News » d Class A Dayton before he felt soreness again in the muscle. He did

Throughout the Tour de France, Australian professional cyclist Richie Porte will be checking in. Custom Nationals T-shirts . Here is his first entry, as told to ESPN contributor Rupert Guinness:Stage 1: Mont Saint Michel to Utah BeachSeeing Alberto Contador sitting in the gutter by the side of the road after he crashed in the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday -- and every rider who fell in the opening day of racing -- showcased what is at stake after having spent so much time preparing for the race.The stage, from Mont Saint Michel to Utah Beach in Normandy, was sketchy for the peloton. But thats how it often is on the first day of a Tour that has a road stage like Saturdays. Id prefer it started with a prologue time trial. That would have created some order before the first road stage as the winners team could control the race a bit to defend the yellow jersey.When the Tour starts with a road stage that is raced on narrow roads with plenty of roundabouts, the odds of there being a crash rise so quickly. With the cross winds blowing, there was also going to be some sort of drama.So ... after seeing Alberto down, I wondered, Why do we race on roads like that? ... [We] come into that corner [from a roundabout] so fast when there is hardly any warning, if any at all.I hate to say it, but I believe Sundays second stage from Saint L? to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin will be much of the same. Any Tour start is nerve-racking, but it is not made any easier by some of the roads we are using. And Sunday will be on narrow roads with road furniture, which makes it quite dangerous. It even feels like its a luck thing ... to come out of this first week without any major issues will require a lot of that.What happened to Alberto showed what price it might take. Fortunately, it seems he will be OK; but it is not good to see anyones Tour compromised by an accident. It was the same on Saturday for my teammate Brent Brookwalter and Luke Rowe (Sky), who also came down in the same crash as Albertos.Crashes aside, for the sprint finish, won by Briton Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), I was in quite good position. I was up there when the crash occurred and was lucky to avoid it.It was a good end for me, even though it might not go down as one of the most memorable, unless you are Cavendish with 27 stage wins in his Tour career.It was still quite a hard stage. The pace was on, and then, when we got into the cross-wind section, a few teams tried to split up the peloton. In such a situation, you are always covering breaks. Its one of those nervous stages where you concentrate the whole time. Normally, the good art of that is you sleep well, a great thing on any grand tour.But it is still great to have the stage behind us. It at least feels the Tour has finally started.I have to be honest ... when you are sitting around in your hotel room for days before the Tour starts, the mind does wander ... where you are at, where your form is at. You start to ask all the questions. The show that is the Tour can get to a rider. But I believe that when you are at your best when you to try to focus on the race as if it was just another one of the lead-up races.All the races we do are super hard and super stressful. Sure, at the Tour, seeing the massive crowds makes it that bit more dangerous. It becomes harder to move up because you dont really want to move too much on the sides because there are people everywhere. But then, without the people on the roads, where would the Tour be today? That the crowds can be so close to the race -- and the rider -- still makes the sport, let alone Tour, unique.Having a passionate crowd that loves cycling is great, as I believe the next weeks will show. Wholesale Custom Nationals Shirts . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Anthony Rendon Jersey Large . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. http://www.customnationalsjersey.com/cus...-large-75u.html . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. CHICAGO -- Kris Bryant was back in the Chicago Cubs lineup Tuesday and apparently OK after an outfield collision 24-hours earlier that left him with a leg bruise.The run-in with Albert Almora Jr. while both pursued a fly ball also prompted an admonishment from Cubs manager Joe Maddon to be more watchful in the future.I didnt like it, I didnt like it at all, Maddon told said. When a player is camped, theres no reason to run a player off. ... It happens to every team throughout the course of the season, but I would like it not to happen again.The versatile Bryant has played in 31 games in the outfield this season, but was back at his normal third base spot Tuesday.He is not a player the Cubs could afford to lose for any significant part of the season, a worry Bryant himself shared when talking about how the Cubs lost Kyle Schwarber for the season in an April 7 outfield collision with Dexter Fowler.I was just kind of scared about the knee at first, Bryant said Tuesday. Im feeling better today, a lot better, nothing to prevent me from playing. I think I got lucky. Things could have been a lot worse.Bryant, voted in as an All-Star Game starter, felt so good that he clubbed his major-league-leading 25th home run of the season in the third inning Tuesday during the Cubs 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.He is batting .278 with 64 RBI, 19 doubles and a .578 slugging percentage.In the series finale Wednesday, Bryant will be batting against a pitcher who finally made his season debut last month after sustaining a spring training injury, and he will be fielding behind a pitcher who hasnt seen a lot of action as a starter.Chicago right-hander Adam Warren (3-1, 4.56 ERA) will be called up to make a spot start -- his first in a Cubs uniform -- after two outingss at Triple-A Iowa. Cheap Nationals Jerseys. He was acquired by the Cubs from the Yankees in December as part of a trade that sent Starlin Castro to New York. Warren began the season in Chicago and made 25 relief appearances before being optioned to Iowa on June 21.Warrens return is part of Maddons strategy to give his staff a breather during on ongoing run of 24 games in 24 days heading into the All-Star break.Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, meanwhile, will be making only his sixth appearance and start this season.He started 31 times for the Reds last year, but he spent much of this season on the disabled list with a strained left oblique that occurred in a final spring training appearance.DeSclafani (2-0, 1.78 ERA) went on to make late-April rehab starts for Double-A Pensacola and Class A Dayton before he felt soreness again in the muscle. He didnt make another rehab appearance until May 25, the first of three outings for Triple-A Louisville.He was activated off the disabled list on June 10 and made his season debut that night against the Oakland As, working six innings of one-run ball but getting no decision in a 2-1 Reds victory.DeSclafani worked just 2 2/3 innings in his next outing on June 16 at Atlanta and also had a no-decision.Everything clicked in his third outing, when he pitched seven innings and struck out six in an 8-2 win over the Texas Rangers. He then tossed a career-high eight innings on June 26 against the San Diego Padres in a 2-0 win.DeSclafani wasnt involved in the decision in his most recent start, Friday at Washington, when he worked 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball, striking out eight while walking two. ' ' '