Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar surged ahead on the last climb to win the mountainous 14th stage of the Tour de France and extend his overall lead to nearly two minutes on Saturday.

The elite climbers’ duel between Pogacar and the two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard finally came when Pogacar peeled away with about five kilometers (three miles) left.

“I love racing on instinct,” Pogacar said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I love it that way.”

Pogacar caught up with and overtook his UAE Emirates teammate Adam Yates, while Vingegaard was initially dropped but showed good composure to limit the damage.

The Dane crossed the line 39 seconds behind the Slovenian Pogacar, who completed the 152-kilometer (99-mile) trek in just over four hours.

Remco Evenepoel of Belgium was third and dropped to third overall behind Vingegaard.

baseball

Saints lose fifth in a row to Bats in Louisville

The St. Paul Saints rallied with two runs in the eighth inning on Saturday, forcing extra innings. But the Saints ended up losing 5-4 in 10 innings, their fifth loss in a row all in Louisville. Ky.

In the 10th, the Saints had two runners on after Payton Eeles walked to join automatic runner Chris Williams. But Anthony Prato struck out, Patrick Winkel lined out and Alex Isola ended the inning with a fly out.

In the bottom of the inning, St. Paul reliever Diego Castillo (0-2) intentionally walked the leadoff batter to put two runners on. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, Castillo followed with another intentional pass to load the bases, but Castillo threw a wild pitch that allowed the winning run to score.

Earlier, Isola had a pair of RBI singles, Prato also had an RBI single for the Saints.

Randy Dobnak started for St. Paul and allowed three runs — one earned — in five innings. He gave up five hits and two walks and struck out six.

Collier and Baldwin homer in Futures Game

Cincinnati’s Cam Collier and Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin hit 400-foot solo home runs as the National League beat the American 6-1 Saturday in the All-Star Futures Game featuring top prospects.

Arizona’s Druw Jones, like Collier the son of a former major leaguer, drew a bases-loaded walk after the NL opened the fourth inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases against Chicago White Sox lefty Noah Schultz.

Collier, the game’s MVP, led off the third inning with a 409-foot homer into the bullpen in right-center field for the game’s first run. It came off loser Caden Dana, a Los Angeles Angels right-hander.

Rays’ Franco used mother to pay mother of minor

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco used his mother to give money to the mother of a minor who he was accused of abusing in an effort to hide the funds, according to documents that prosecutors presented to a judge this week and viewed by The Associated Press.

Franco has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic. Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Franco six months after a judge ordered that he be investigated in connection with sexual and psychological abuse of the girl.

The indictment also includes the girl’s mother. According to prosecutors, Franco paid the girl’s mother thousands of dollars to consent to the abuse, which lasted four months. The girl’s mother remains under house arrest and faces a money laundering charge.

Prosecutors’ on Monday cited evidence of an exchange of money and the alleged victim’s mother, saying in documents two financial transfers are recorded made by Franco’s mother on January 5, 2023, totaling one million pesos or $17,000.

The prosecutors conclude that Franco’s mother cannot prove where she obtained the money and that she deposited it without reason into the account of the minor’s mother, whom she did not know.

tennis

Doubles championships decided at Wimbledon

After seeing longtime doubles partner Barbora Krejcikova win the Wimbledon singles title, Katerina Siniakova went out on Centre Court and added another Grand Slam trophy to her own collection.

Siniakova won her third women’s doubles title at Wimbledon after teaming up with Taylor Townsend to beat Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1) on Saturday in a match that finished after 10:20 p.m. local time under floodlights.

Siniakova has won seven major doubles titles with Krejcikova and one with Coco Gauff at this year’s French Open. This was her first with Townsend, an American whose previous best Grand Slam result in doubles was two runner-up finishes at the 2022 U.S. Open — in a loss to Siniakova and Krejcikova — and 2023 French Open.

Unseeded Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara saved three match points in the second set before beating Australian duo Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson 6-7 (7), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (11-9) in the men’s doubles final at Wimbledon for their first Grand Slam title on Saturday.

Heliovaara became the first Finnish man to win the Wimbledon doubles and sank to his knees in tears after he and Patten converted their second match point.

Patten is the third British man in the professional era to win the men’s doubles at the All England Club, joining Jonathan Marray in 2012 and Neal Skupski last year.

Briefly

soccer >> Sophia Smith scored in the 64th minute and the United States got revenge for a loss to Mexico earlier this year with a 1-0 victory in the rematch on Saturday. The friendly match at Red Bull Arena was the first of two tune-up games for the United States ahead of the 2024 Olympics. The Americans will play Costa Rica on Tuesday at Audi Field in Washington.

baseball >> Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez is set for his first All-Star Game appearance as the replacement for Atlanta lefty Chris Sale, who is scheduled to start for the Braves on Sunday and won’t pitch in the Midsummer Classic. The addition of Sánchez on Saturday pushes the Phillies’ MLB-leading total to eight All-Stars, adding to the franchise record.

— From news services