Espana

MADRID - Spanish FM Jose Manuel Albares has reiterated that Madrid's decision to accept passports issued by the so-called Kosovo did not mean a recognition and noted that such claims were a "hoax" by the Spanish opposition People's Party.

Australia's Jay Vine claimed his first World Tour victory in the Tour Down Under yesterday, with Britain's Simon Yates winning a thrilling uphill battle to take the race's final stage.

Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) gave one final lung-busting effort to overtake Vine at the Mount Lofty finish for his first-ever victory in Australia, denying Vine from winning a stage at this year's TDU.

Ciudad Real – Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič won the 11th, hilly stage of the Vuelta a Espana from Antequera and Valdepenas de Jaen on Wednesday to claim his second stage win in the race. There is however no change in the overall standings for Roglič, as he remains in third place.

Valladolid – Slovenian Olympic champion in time trial Primož Roglič won the first stage of the 2021 Vuelta a Espana, another time trial, on Saturday to take the red jersey already at the start of his bid to defend the 2020 Vuelta title. His compatriot Jan Tratnik finished third.

Ljubljana – Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar seems to be skipping the 2021 Vuelta a Espana as he is scheduled to attend a reception at his native town of Komenda on 13 August, one day ahead of the start of the race around Spain. Primož Roglič is meanwhile to take part in the race to defend his 2020 title.

Chalon sur Saone – Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) won stage 7 of the Tour de France from La Vierzon to Le Creusot on Friday and took the polka dot jersey for the best climber. Defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) lost some ground.

Ljubljana – Slovenian star cyclist Tadej Pogačar, the winner of last year’s Tour de France, will defend the title in 2021 and will also participate in the Vuelta a Espana, which he missed in 2020, UAE Team Emirates has announced.

Pogačar’s team announced this as it presented the names of team captains for the three-week Grand Tour races for this year.

Ljubljana – Cross-country skier Anamarija Lampič, cyclist Primož Roglič and the men’s handball team are this year’s crème de la crème of Slovenian sports as selected by the Association of Sports Journalists. Both the athletes and the team received the top sports awards at the 2020 Athlete of the Year ceremony on Wednesday.

Ljubljana – Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič has won the 2020 Vélo d’Or award by the French cycling magazine Vélo Magazine, given annually to the rider considered to have performed the best over the year.

The 31-year-old, who currently competes for the Dutch Team Jumbo-Visma, is the first Slovenian ever to win the Golden Bicycle award since its induction in 1992.

The Giro dell'Emilia is held annually in Bologna, Italy. Since 2005, it has been organised as a second-tier event organised by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as part of the UCI Europe Tour.

Roglič won the 103rd edition of the race, a 207-km stage between Bologna and San Luca, finishing 15 seconds ahead Michael Woods of Canada and Sergio Higuita of Colombia.