Bundesliga, Wolfsburg: Lukas Nmecha moves to VfL. The U21 European champion, who already played on loan for Lower Saxony in the first half of the 2019/2020 season, comes from the English champions Manchester City. The 22-year-old attacker signed a contract with the wolves until June 30, 2025, as VfL announced on Friday. “We have always been convinced of Lukas’ qualities and have continued to follow his path closely even after he left Wolfsburg. In Anderlecht he took the next step in his career and made enormous progress.
Not least in the German U21 team, he showed how important he can be for a team on and off the pitch and that despite his only 22 years of leadership roles, he has taken on and moves forward, “said VfL sports director Marcel Schäfer. Nmecha had been there since 2017 under contract with Manchester, but was loaned to Wolfsburg, the English second division side FC Middlesbrough and the Belgian first division side RSC Anderlecht.
Cycling, end of career: The most successful active German professional cyclist Andre Greipel will end his career after the season. The 39-year-old announced this in a video message on Twitter one day after his birthday on Saturday. The sprint oldie celebrated a total of 158 career victories and is the third most successful German in the Tour de France with eleven daily victories. The last section of this year’s Tour of France on Sunday on the Champs-Elysees in Paris “will definitely be my last stage in the Tour de France and after the season I will end my career,” said Greipel in the video that his team Israel Start- up Nation published.
“I am super happy with everything that I have achieved together with my team-mate and the staff around me,” said Greipel: “Without my team-mates, my staff and my family, I would not have achieved any of this. I look with a lot of satisfaction in the future. ” Greipel has the last chance of his twelfth stage win in the Tour on Sunday in Paris. Greipel knows how to win on the magnificent boulevard of the French capital: in 2015 and 2016 he achieved this feat twice in a row. Rostock, only known as “Gorilla” in the peloton, has already achieved four top 10 results at this year’s Grand Boucle.
Cycling, cycling: The Slovenian professional Tadej Pogacar is about to successfully defend his title in the 108th Tour de France. The captain of the UAE Team Emirates easily brought his huge lead over the finish line in eighth place in the decisive individual time trial over 30.8 km from Libourne to Saint-Emilion. Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) secured victory on the 20th and penultimate stage of the Great Loop. Team mate Jonas Vingegaard finished third and maintained his second place in the overall standings ahead of Richard Carapaz (Ecuador / Ineos). Vingegaard’s compatriot Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) completed the podium in second. The 22-year-old Pogacar will crown himself the youngest double champion in the history of the Tour of France on Sunday on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Traditionally, there are no more attacks in the overall standings on the final stage. The 21st section leads from Chatou over 108.4 km flat to the French capital.
Bundesliga, Bayern: FC Bayern will have to do without Marc Roca for a long time. The Spanish midfielder tore his left ankle ligament during training, the club announced on Saturday. The 24-year-old should be treated conservatively. Roca moved from Espanyol Barcelona to Bayern last October. Last season he only made six Bundesliga appearances and was only in the starting line-up twice.
Olympia, Tokyo: The first corona case in the Olympic village has once again made the makers of the Tokyo Games difficult to explain. Six days before the opening of the summer games in Japan’s capital, the organizers had to report the infection of an official in the athletes’ village on Saturday. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that there is no major corona outbreak,” said Seiko Hashimoto, head of the organization. The affected functionary has to go into quarantine for two weeks. After receiving a negative result on entry, another test in the Olympic village found the corona virus. Actually, the hosts of the games wanted to prevent infections in the athletes’ village with a strict set of rules. “We leave no stone unturned,” assured Hashimoto. “If we do have an outbreak, we will have a plan to respond,” added Japan’s all-time Olympic athlete.
“For me it is one of the best monitored areas that we will have worldwide,” Bärbel Gärtner, virologist of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, had previously said about the Olympic village. “Every student residence is more critical,” she said. OC managing director Toshiro Muto did not want to provide any information about the person or nationality of the infected person. Nor could he say whether the person had been vaccinated. The International Olympic Committee has full confidence in the measures of the organizers, assured IOC Olympic Director Christoph Dubi.
Olympia, basketball: The Americans have to do without Kevin Love in addition to all star Bradley Beal at the Olympic tournament in Tokyo. The Cleveland Cavaliers forward has not yet fully recovered from a right calf injury that has cost him much of the season. JaVale McGee (Denver Nuggets) and Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs) were appointed to the team as replacements. “I’m incredibly disappointed,” said Love, 2012 Olympic champion, on Friday: “But to take part in the Games, you have to be in top shape.” Due to the difficult season, his appointment to the squad came as a surprise anyway. Less than 24 hours before Love’s cancellation, the US association had already announced that Beal would not be able to travel to Japan. The three-time NBA all-star from the Washington Wizards is subject to the Corona protocol. Jerami Grant of the Detroit Pistons was also put on the list “just to be safe”. Many top stars, including LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers), will not be at the Summer Games in Tokyo (July 23 to August 8) anyway. The team is led by Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant.
Soccer, Italy: The French national soccer player Olivier Giroud (34) leaves Champions League winner Chelsea FC under team manager Thomas Tuchel and moves to Italy. Giroud joins AC Milan in Serie A. The Rossoneri confirmed this on Saturday without giving any information about the contract period. According to media reports, the center forward signed for two years, the transfer should amount to about 2.3 million euros. An automatic contract extension by one year at Chelsea had prevented a transfer free of charge. Since Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard with the Blues last winter, Giroud has not played a major role at the London club anyway. Chelsea, the team of the German national players Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, want to add more in the storm center and are said to have presented Borussia Dortmund with a 175 million offer for Erling Haaland. BVB wants to keep the Norwegian.
Cycling, Tour de France: The Slovenian professional cyclist Matej Mohoric won the 19th stage of the 108th Tour de France. The 26-year-old from the Bahrain Victorious team, which is suspected of doping, celebrated his second victory of the day as a soloist at this year’s Grand Bow after 207 km from Mourenx to Libourne. Mohoric had already won the seventh and this year longest stage of the Tour of France to Le Creusot. As a result, sprint star Mark Cavendish’s record hunt was postponed. Cavendish celebrated his 34th Tour stage win with victory in Carcassonne last Friday and set the more than 46-year-old record of five-time Tour winner Eddy Merckx. The 36-year-old has the last chance at this year’s tour at the final on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday, where a sprint finish is to be expected.
Basketball, FC Bayern: The Munich team has strengthened itself with the former NBA professional Darrun Hillard. The 28-year-old American is coming to Munich from the Russian Euroleague top team ZSKA Moscow, where he signed a one-year contract plus an option for another season. Bayern announced on Friday. After Andreas Obst, Ognjen Jaramaz, Gavin Schilling and returnees Marvin Ogunsipe, the development player is the fifth newcomer for the new season in the Bundesliga and Euroleague. This contrasts with the departures of Jalen Reynolds, Wade Baldwin and Robin Amaize.