Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/396532
maltatoday, Sunday, 12 OctOber 2014 49 Former Tour de France winner Andy Schleck has retired from cy- cling at the age of 29 because of a knee injury. The Trek Factory racing rider has failed to recover from an inju- ry sustained in a crash in London on the third stage of the 2014 Tour de France. "I would have liked to keep on fighting but my knee doesn't allow it," he said. Schleck was awarded the 2010 Tour de France title in 2012 after Spaniard Albert Contador was stripped of the yellow jersey for failing a drugs test. The Luxembourger finished sec- ond in the 2009 and 2011 Tours, and won the 2009 Liege-Bastogne- Liege one-day classic after a gutsy breakaway. Schleck, who crashed close to the olympic Park in London on the last of the Tour de France's three days in england this year, added: "Since my crash in the UK there has hardly been any progress. "While the ligaments have healed, the damaged cartilage is another story. I have been work- ing hard on rehabbing the knee but came to the hard realisation that at the risk of irreversibly in- juring it, this is the best course of action." ever since FIFA awarded rus- sia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights respec- tively, media claims of corruption in the voting process have been rife. American lawyer michael Gar- cia has been drafted in by FIFA to investigate the corruption allega- tions. While President Sepp Blatter has called for Garcia's report to remain a secret; several leading figures in the game have called for greater transparency. World Cup winning captain Franz Beckenbauer said: "I give my opinion as a spectator as someone who is interested. If you have nothing to hide then you can publish the report, so when FIFA has the idea to write a report then they should publish it, so there is nothing to get upset about." Beckenbauer was a voting mem- ber of Fifa's executive committee in December 2010 when it chose russia and Qatar but stepped down a few months later. FIFA brief ly banned him from all soccer-related activity for fail- ing to comply with Garcia's inves- tigation although that was lifted soon after when he pledged to cooperate, but only in his native German. Among those also to call for the report to be made public is UeFA chief michel Platini. Sport CYCLING SAILING RUGBY Ex Tour de France champion Andy Schleck retires through injury Transparency over FIFA corruption report – Beckenbauer Ulster overwhelm Glasgow SeConD-hALF touchdowns from Craig Gilroy and Tommy Bowe made the outcome secure while Ian humphreys kicked 19 points in the 29-9 home success. The win gave Ulster their second consecutive victory over Scottish opposition and ensured that they head to Leicester in good shape for next weekend's european opener. meanwhile, the much-changed Warriors side ended up licking their wounds after falling to their first loss in five league outings. The visitors scored first when Glasgow fly-half Finn russell opened the scoring for the visitors with a seventh-minute penalty after Wiehahn herbst was pinged by ni- gel owens for lazy running. The home side hit back immedi- ately with Ian humphreys scoring a penalty after the Warriors inter- fered with a driving maul and then, after winning another penalty at a scrum, he scored it. russell then drew the sides level on 19 minutes after the Tmo had been consulted over a mid-air collision between Louis Ludik and former Ulster player Tommy Seymour. The clash left Ludik needing at- tention but it was judged to have rather more involved herbst, lead- ing to the visitors' penalty which had been already flagged before the incident. russell levelled the scores but then humphreys got another shot several minutes later to take Ulster back into the lead. Another big Ulster scrum yielded another chance for humphreys, al- though the out-half was left holding his head in his hands after missing a great chance three minutes later. A break from Stuart mcCloskey had taken play out of the home side's 22 deep into Glasgow territory and ended up with Warriors second row Leone nakarawa being binned for blatant offside. humphreys did not miss with his next shot, which arrived a minute after the Warriors' ill-discipline cost them dearly. his 35th-minute strike made it 15-6 to Ulster. The Warriors made the perfect start to the second half, though, with russell scoring his third pen- alty. In the 59th minute, after another notable break from mcCloskey, humphreys put a ball into the cor- ner which hit the flag and bounced into the in-goal area only for Payne to dive on it. The call went upstairs but the ball had just rolled out. The game was then held up for at least 10 minutes while Glasgow cen- tre mark Bennett received medical attention. Just after Bennett's departure on a stretcher, humphreys missed a drop goal. Crucially, though, Ulster scored next and, on 67 minutes, Gilroy danced through and humphreys nailed a superb touchline conver- sion to make it 22-9. That became 29-9 two minutes later after a spilled ball in midfield was scooped up by Bowe, who can- tered in from his own half to dot down under the sticks, giving hum- phreys two easy points. Ulster's Tommy Bowe Phelps banned following drunk driving arrest Volvo Ocean Race takes to the waves mIChAeL Phelps, the most decorated swimmer of all time, has been banned from swimming for six months after be- ing arrested for drink driving. Baltimore Police say the 18-time ol- ympic gold medalist was clocked by radar doing 135 kmh in a 45-kmh zone. he allegedly failed a breathaliser test and was unable to perform satisfactorily a series of standard sobriety tasks. It is the second drink-driving arrest for Phelps, who's recently emerged from retirement. he has spent most of his life working feverishly in the pool but admits he likes to have a good time outside of practice and competi- tion. LeG one of the 12th edition of the volvo ocean race began on Satur- day with the seven-boat fleet setting sail from Alicante on Spain's Costa Blanca. The seven teams are expected to spend roughly 24 days at sea and travel some 6,487 nautical miles be- fore reaching the leg one finish line in Cape Town South Africa. Before heading out into the medi- terranean Sea the fleet made its way around an inshore circuit giving sailors, families and the thousands of spectators the chance for one fi- nal wave of encouragement. The teams will race through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the At- lantic ocean, running far wide to the west near the South American coast before using the winds and currents to reach Cape Town. It's the first of nine legs in total. Andy Schleck Michael Phelps