Richeze heads South American 1-2, Sagan keeps lead

LAUSANNE — Argentine Maximiliano Richeze led a South American one-two ahead of race leader Peter Sagan on the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland Tuesday. It was also an Etixx-Quick Step one-two as Richeze crossed the line ahead of Colombian teammate Fernando Gaviria with Slovak Sagan finishing third following the 193km run from Rheinfelden to Champagne. Having won the two previous stages, world champion Sagan missed out on a hat trick after clipping the wheel of Sky's Danny van Poppel on a tight right-hand bend just before the line. Van Poppel showed great bike control to stay upright as he wobbled all over the road while Sagan momentarily lost momentum and was unable to overhaul the Etixx pair in front of him. The Tinkoff rider did increase his overall lead, though, thanks to picking up four bonus seconds on the line, while the rest of the peloton also finished two seconds back from the leading trio. Belgian Jurgen Roelandts finished ninth on the stage and dropped to nine seconds behind Sagan, while Silvan Dillier, another Belgian, is third overall at the same time gap. Wednesday's 125km run from Brig-Glis to Cari is the first of three mountain stages that should give the overall contenders a chance to shine, including reigning champion Simon Spilak from Slovenia. It has three tough climbs and 26-year-old Sagan is likely to struggle to hold onto the leader's yellow jersey. Briton Geraint Thomas is the highest placed of the overall contenders, currently 10th at 25sec. Spain court gives authorities access to blood bags A Spanish court ruled Tuesday that authorities be given access to blood bags seized as part of a major doping probe, which may allow them to identify sportspeople implicated in the so-called Operation Puerto scandal. The Madrid court ruled that the bags be handed over to entities such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the blood-doping investigation that affects cycling and other sports, overruling a 2013 decision by a judge to destroy them on privacy grounds. "The stated aim is to fight doping," the court said in a statement, adding that there was "a risk that other sportspeople could be tempted by doping". The decision comes over three years after a judge found a doctor called Eufemiano Fuentes guilty of endangering public health by performing blood transfusions on top cyclists. So far only cyclists, including 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich, have been publicly named as being Fuentes clients, however the doctor admitted during the trial to have worked with footballers, tennis players and boxers.