No Froome for anyone else at the top, Lisicki capitulates on Wimbledon’s biggest stage, and the Lions roar once again on a great night for British sport

As team sky asserted their dominance on stage 8 of the world’s most famous bike race it seems as though it is almost good night and thanks for coming to the rest of the races big guns. Chris Froome, Richie Porte and Peter Kennaugh set an astounding pace through the Pyrenees as they reeled in Movistar’s 23 year old Columbian rider and new white jersey holder Nairo Quintana. The ease with which Quintana scaled the peaks was mind boggling as some of the races main contenders struggled to keep the pace with the likes of Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck all finishing minutes back from last year’s runner up and this stage’s winner Kenyan born Brit Chris Froome.

Pierre Rolland retained the polka dot jersey on the back of a very attacking display, staying level with Froome on 31 points. Froome secured the yellow jersey as he and his teammate Australia’s own Richie Porte grabbed the one-two on the stage as well as on the individual leader board as other teams ponder how they can possibly stop the powerhouse that is team sky.

Meanwhile on Wimbledon’s centre court the women’s singles title was being fought out between German 23^rd seed Sabine Lisicki and France’s 15^th seed Marion Bartoli. It was not the result that most predicted as Lisicki was unable to curb her emotions in a display which did not do her brilliant tournament justice. Bartoli was calm and calculated as she took advantage of Lisicki’s slow and nervy start to take the first set 6-1. 

Lisicki was clearly rattled but still looking to get the match back on track. She had little luck as Bartoli raced out to 5-1 in the second set. The German woman rallied briefly as she brought it back to 5-4, with the crowd clearly on her side it seemed as though Lisicki might be able to take it to a third, but it wasn’t to be as Bartoli held serve with ease in the next game to take her first grand slam title. The 28 year old sealed the title without dropping a set in a bizarre tournament which saw the top 14 seeds fail to make the final.

Meanwhile in Australia, the British and Irish Lions lined up against the wallabies at Sydney’s ANZ stadium. The mood for the night was set as the Lions capitalized on Will Genia’s dropping of the kickoff to go up 7-0 care of a Corbisiero try and a Leigh Halfpenny conversion within 90 seconds. The wallabies were sloppy in their play as the Lions made their way to an easy 19-10 lead at half time. The right boot of Christian Leali’ifano kept the Wallabies in the match as he struck two penalty goals to take the score to 19-16. It looked as though the wallabies may be within striking distance of back to back series victories over the Lions but just as easily as the Wallabies came back into the match they were swept out of it thanks to the brilliance of the Lions ball players. Tries were scored by fly half Jonny Sexton, winger George North, centre Jamie Roberts as well as player of the series fullback Halfpenny.

The final score was 41-16 as the Lions and their fans celebrated long into the night whilst the Wallabies were left ruing a simply awful performance in what was billed as one of the biggest games of the year for them.

That’s Rosey’s Wrap on what was a busy Saturday night in sport,

Thanks for Reading,

By Jake Rosengarten