FAENZA, Italy — Levi Leipheimer has another chance to shed his “perennial runner-up” label today in stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia.
The American battled through 95-degree heat and hung with the other leaders in the 15th stage Sunday. He enters the potentially decisive uphill leg to Monte Petrano third overall, 43 seconds behind race leader Denis Menchov of Russia.
Danilo Di Luca of Italy is second overall, 34 seconds behind Menchov.
Menchov is a two-time Spanish Vuelta champion, and Di Luca won the 2007 Giro. Leipheimer’s best grand tour results are second and third in the Vuelta and third in the 2007 Tour de France.
Leonardo Bertagnolli won Sunday’s leg. The Italian finished in 4 hours, 18 minutes, 34 seconds along the 100-mile route from Forli to Faenza. Serge Pauwels of Belgium finished 54 seconds behind and Marco Pinotti of Italy was third with the same time.
Menchov and all the other leaders crossed 1:56 behind, and seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong finished 2:56 back. Armstrong crossed 26th and moved up from 14th to 13th overall.
• Alejandro Valverde of Spain won the Volta of Catalunya, six days after receiving a two-year suspension from competing in Italy.
Valverde maintained his 15-second advantage over Daniel Martin of Ireland to earn his fifth victory of the season. Haimar Zubeldia of Spain finished third.
New Zealand’s Greg Henderson won the final 68.85-mile stage that ended near Barcelona, Spain.
Anteaters will host regional.
Top-ranked UC Irvine was selected to host an NCAA college baseball regional for the first time in school history.
The Anteaters joined Louisville and TCU as first-time hosts. Each of the 16 host schools are guaranteed berths in the 64-team tournament, which starts Friday.
The Atlantic Coast Conference led the field with four schools — Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina — selected as hosts. The Southeastern Conference was next with three: Florida, LSU and Mississippi.
Fire remains unbeaten
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Chicago Fire extended its season-long unbeaten streak (4-0-6) to 10 games and remained the lone undefeated team in Major League Soccer, beating the New York Red Bulls 1-0.
For the second consecutive game, Chris Rolfe scored for the Fire, tucking a left-footed shot inside the far post from 16 yards in the waning moments of the first half.
Footnotes.
Hilary Bowen scored five goals as Northwestern won its fifth straight NCAA championship in women’s Division I lacrosse with a 21-7 victory over North Carolina in Towson, Md.
• Adam Henrique, Dale Mitchell and Rob Kwiet scored on Windsor’s first three shots of the game, and the Spitfires won their first Memorial Cup title with a 4-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockets in Rimouski, Quebec.
• The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed an agreement with an investment group from China to become minority owners of the franchise and the arena.
The Associated Press
