The weekend was notably marked by the secret retirement of a cycling legend: Peter Sagan.
Australian giants on the brink of collapse, big names in cycling who have a change of pace, and major Ligue 1 teams in slow motion: you didn’t have to be a leader in your discipline this weekend. It is not American golfers, once again beaten by Europe at the Ryder Cup, who will say the opposite. For the “little” Antoine Dupont, on the other hand, the news is rather good with a return to training for the captain of the XV of France.
Ligue 1: Monaco leader, the PLM line is derailed
After seven days of the championship, the princely club regained its throne as leader. Building on their stunning success against OM (3-2), and thanks to the draw between their two direct pursuers, Brest and Nice (0-0), the Monegasques have regained the lead in Ligue 1, at the goal difference in front of Brest. Above all, they relegated Marseille, still in crisis, to five points for the first time under the new coach, Gennaro Gattuso. Stuck in 12th place, OM made the worst start to the league under the McCourt era, which began in 2016.
On the PSG side, it’s not much better. Fifth with twelve points, the Parisians are only two points behind the lead in the championship, but are off to their worst start in Ligue 1 since 2010-2011. A week after their resounding victory in the Classic, they stalled on the Clermont pitch (0-0). Thanks to this point, the Auvergnats leave behind the place of red lantern to the Olympique Lyonnais, beaten again, this time by the Stade de Reims (2-0). Third, the Champenois also confirm their good start to the season. Sunday, the Breton derby returned to Rennes after a tense match with the Canaries (3-1).
XV of France: the captain soon on deck
France was holding its breath, it can breathe again. Victim of a violent shock against Namibia, and a maxillo-zygomatic fracture, Antoine Dupont resumed training on the sidelines of the group, Sunday October 1st. If he should not be operational for the group’s next meeting against Italy, Friday October 6, the captain of the XV of France could however make his return earlier than initially imagined.
While the staff hoped to get him back with a view to a possible semi-final, the health manager of the Blues, Bruno Boussagol, did not rule out the possibility of seeing Antoine Dupont starting again from the quarter-final. Which would be good news for the French XV, set to cross paths with the South African world champions at this stage of the competition.
Rugby World Cup: Australia on a tightrope
The future of the Australian giants hangs by a thread. If they have no more matches to play in this group phase, the Wallabies do not yet know their destiny in this World Cup, after their success against Portugal (34-14) on Sunday. Currently second in Pool C, Australia will qualify if Fiji lose to the same Portuguese on Sunday October 8. The Flying Fijians could have killed all the suspense in the event of an improved victory against Georgia, which was not the case after a narrow success (17-12).
In the rest of the weekend’s matches, however, there was no suspense. The Blues’ next opponents, the Italians sank against New Zealand (17-96), while Scotland pulverized Romania (84-0). By outclassing the Chileans (59-5), the Argentinians offered themselves a final against Japan next week, to snatch second place in Pool D, behind England. Sunday evening, it was the turn of the South African Springboks to enforce the hierarchy against Tonga (49-18).
Ryder Cup: Europe dispatches Uncle Sam
Since 1993, the United States has never won the Ryder Cup on European soil. And during this 44th edition, in Rome, European invincibility at home has never wavered, in this almost century-old competition, which pits the best golfers from the Old Continent and the United States every two years. Winners by a score of 16.5 points to 11.5, the Europeans only trembled on Sunday, while the American leaders finally played at their level, temporarily returning to three points. A wake-up call too late to avoid a seventh consecutive defeat on European soil.
In total, this 15th victory for Europe makes it possible to reduce the gap (27 victories for the United States, two draws), after a success which quickly took shape. From Friday, the Europeans of the Spaniard Jon Rahm, the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and the Norwegian Viktor Hovland pocketed the first four games, unheard of in history. The gap even increased to a seven-point lead on Saturday morning, before the burst of American pride on Sunday. The rematch will take place in two years, in Farmingdale, near New York, before returning to Europe in 2027, in Limerick, Ireland.
Cycling: Sagan, the rockstar leaves the stage
We imagined a scene worthy of his career for his last outing, but Peter Sagan chose the local tour of his TotalEnergies team in Vendée, Sunday October 1, 2023, to perform his last dance in the saddle. At 33, the Slovak, the only triple consecutive world champion in history (2015, 2016, 2017), but also winner of Paris-Roubaix (2018), the Tour of Flanders (2016) and seven green jerseys on the Tour de France (12 stages), a record, retired in relative anonymity, ninth of the day. An exit from the track like his last ghostly seasons, spent at Total Energies (two victories).
Far from his best level, that of his 121 victories, the fantastic all-around sprinter had fallen into line two years ago, and his departure from Bora-hansgrohe, the German team with which he made his law reign in the platoon. The one who has “restored color to cycling”, says Eddy Merckx, will however extend the adventure in mountain biking, with the hope of participating in the Paris Olympics next summer before hanging up for good. A farewell scene much more worthy of his career. Another big departure of the weekend: that of triple winner of the Tour of Spain Primoz Roglic, who announced that he was leaving Jumbo-Visma at the end of the season.