In brief: Contador wins second Giro d’Italia title
Cycling: Alberto Contador captured his second Giro d’Italia title Sunday in Milan to give himself a chance at completing the historic feat with victories in the Tour de France and the Spanish Vuelta this summer.
Contador pounded his chest and celebrated with his traditional pistol shot gesture as he finished third in the 16-mile individual time trial to beat his closest overall rival, Michele Scarponi, by more than six minutes.
The Spaniard crossed the line 36 seconds behind stage winner David Millar’s time of 30 minutes, 13 seconds.
Contador added to his 2008 Giro title by winning with an overall time of 84:05:14 to notch his sixth grand tour victory. He captured the Tour de France in 2007, 2009 and 2010, and the Vuelta in 2008. He is one of five cyclists to have completed a career sweep of the grand tours.
Contador was unchallenged in this year’s Giro after taking the lead by winning the ninth stage on Mount Etna in Sicily.
Local favorites Scarponi and Vincenzo Nibali were unable to keep pace with him whenever he attacked on the mountain stages and they had to watch the Spaniard open a morale-sapping lead as the race progressed. Scarponi finished 6:10 behind and Nibali was another 46 seconds back.
Contador only added one other stage win – the 16th from Belluno to Nevegal – but was second on four occasions to keep Scarponi and Nibali at bay.
Oilers re-sign Jones to two-year deal
NHL: The Edmonton Oilers re-signed forward Ryan Jones to a two-year deal, keeping him away from free agency.
Jones , a 26-year-old forward, reached the deal with the Oilers after posting 18 goals and seven assists last season. He could have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
In 176 NHL games with Edmonton and the Nashville Predators, Jones has 33 goals and 21 assists. He was originally selected by the Minnesota Wild in the fourth round of the 2004 draft
DC United ends Timbers’ win streak
MLS: Chris Pontius and Josh Wolff scored second-half goals and DC United beat Portland 3-2 to end the expansion Timbers’ Major League Soccer winning streak at home at five.
Perry Kitchen also scored for DC United (4-4-3). The Washington. D.C., club has two victories and two ties in its last four MLS matches. Jack Jewsbury and Jorge Perlaza scored in the second half for Portland (5-4-2).
Williams, Johnson to play for Men’s title
Miscellany: Rhyne Williams beat Tennessee teammate Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to reach the NCAA men’s singles final in Stanford, Calif.
Williams will play for the title today against Southern Cal’s Steve Johnson, who beat Virginia’s Michael Shabaz after Shabaz walked off the court.
Top-ranked Johnson was leading 7-6 (4), 3-2 and had a break point when Shabaz hit a ball out of the stadium and was penalized a point. Shabaz walked over, shook the umpire’s hand and left the court.
California’s Jana Juricova, the No. 1 women’s player, survived a three-hour marathon, beating Stanford’s Nicole Gibbs 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (2) to reach the final.
Juricova will face Stanford’s Stacey Tan in the women’s final.
• WNBA play overseas for first time, wins: Coco Miller scored 21 points to lead the Atlanta Dream to an 82-51 victory over Britain’s national team in an exhibition game in Manchester, England. It was the first time a WNBA team has played in Europe.
Kim Butler scored 12 points for Britain at the Manchester Evening News Arena.
The first WNBA game played outside the U.S. was in 2004, when the Detroit Shock and San Antonio Silver Stars played a preseason game in Monterrey, Mexico.
Britain’s team has 2010 Connecticut Sun draft pick Johannah Leedham on its roster, but she missed the game with an injury.
• Northwestern tops Maryland for lacrosse title: Northwestern won its sixth NCAA women’s lacrosse championship in seven years, getting four goals from Shannon Smith, including the game-winner with 4:36 remaining, in an 8-7 victory over top-ranked Maryland in Stony Brook, N.Y.
Freshman Kara Mupo added two goals for the second-ranked Wildcats, who avenged last year’s 13-11 loss to Maryland and overcame an early three-goal deficit.
Erin Fitzgerald and Jessica Russo also scored for the Wildcats (21-2).
Smith scored two goals that brought Northwestern within one goal during the first half, another 10 minutes into the second half that put the Wildcats up 6-5 and her fourth with just over 4 1/2 minutes left for a two-goal margin.
Freshman Beth Glaros scored four goals in the first half, including three in a 94-second span for Maryland.