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Sports in brief

 
Published July 9, 2016

tour de France

stage seven marked by weird finale

LAC DE PAYOLLE, France — Adam Yates didn't know what hit him.

On the attack in the Tour de France, the British rider was suddenly performing a somersault in midair after an inflatable arch marking the final kilometer collapsed and hit him during a bizarre finale to Friday's seventh stage.

Yates hit the ground hard, bloodying his chin and bruising his shoulder. Still, he was able to get back on his bike and reach the finish shortly after his countryman Steve Cummings won the first of four stages in the Pyrenees with a solo attack on the Col d'Aspin climb.

"I had no time to react," Yates said after getting his chin stitched up. "It's a good thing it was just me on my own. It could have been a lot worse with the peloton sprinting at (45 mph)."

Organizers later revised his time, and he rose to second in the overall standings, 5 minutes, 50 seconds behind race leader Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium. Yates, 23, also earned the white jersey as the tour's highest-placed young rider after officials took the finishing times about 2 miles from the end of the 101-mile leg from L'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle.

Overall favorites Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana finished in the main pack. Froome, Quintana, and other riders had to lift the crumpled arch off the ground and slip their bikes underneath it.

MMA

Jones doping retest is positive

A doping test on Jon Jones' backup sample showed the same violation that forced the UFC to drop the interim light-heavyweight champion from his main-event bout at UFC 200 tonight in Las Vegas.

Jones was removed from the card Wednesday night after the potential doping violation was discovered in a sample taken June 16. Jones and his management haven't revealed the substance for which he tested positive. Jones tearfully denied knowingly using any performance-enhancing drugs.

UFC president Dana White aired his frustrations with Jones in a Fox Sports 1 interview. White said he didn't want to speak to Jones, and he expressed disbelief in Jones' inability to avoid banned substances, even if he took them inadvertently through nutritional supplements.

ET CETERA

hockey: The Avalanche signed forward Nathan MacKinnon to a $44.1 million, seven-year deal that runs through the 2022-23 season. MacKinnon, 20, was the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft and went on to win the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie for 2012-13. … The Ducks acquired goalie Jonathan Bernier from the Maple Leafs for a 2017 conditional draft pick. … Former Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk signed a two-year contract with Russian club SKA St. Petersburg after leaving the NHL after last season. Datsyuk left the Red Wings last month with a year left on his contract, saying it was time to return home to his native Russia. … The AHL approved new rules to curb fighting, including automatic ejection for players who fight before, at, or immediately following the puck drop for a faceoff.

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Times wires