Five things to know from what happened in the world of sport. October 27-November 2, 2020.
- Sixth Championship for Dixon. Scott Dixon (NZL, Ganassi) has become the second most successful IndyCar driver in history by taking his sixth IndyCar series title, only trailing A.J. Foyt`s (USA) seven. Defending Champion Josef Newgarden (USA, Penske) won the series finale at St. Petersburg, Florida, but that was not enough. Second in the race was Patricio O’Ward (MEX, McLaren), who finished fourth in his first full season, just behind Colton Herta (USA, Andretti), who he beat to the 2018 Indy Lights Title. In Europe, Nick Tandy (ENG, Rowe Porsche) has now won overall or class victory in virtually every major global Endurance race, after holding on three drivers to win the Spa 24 Hours alongside Laurens Vanthoor (BEL) and Earl Bamber (NZL) (Autosport). Rowe also previously took the Nürburgring 24 Hours, but with a BMW (Daily Sportscar)
- Japanese Triple Crown. Contrail (JAP) became the sixth horse to win the Japanese Triple Crown, and the third one to do it unbeaten, after taking the Kikuka-shō (Japanese St. Leger) ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga (JAP). In Singapore, Inferno won the fastest Lion City Cup ever at Kranji anc could have broken the track record, had Vlad Duric (AUS) not decreased rhythm in the last 50 meters (TNP SG).
- Closest Giro ever. For the first time ever, the two leading riders entered the Milano Time Trial with the same time: Tao Geoghegan-Hart (ENG) and Jai Hindley (AUS), resolving in favor of the European. Team Sunweb probably lost the race when they did not let Hindley take stage 18 by himself when he looked stronger in the mountain, opting instead to protect Wilco Kelderman’s (NED) lead. Wilco finished third overall. Filippo Ganna (ITA), Time Trial World Champion, unsurprisingly took the Final stage and all three TT stages. In Mountain Cycling, France took both titles (Titouan Perin Ganier and Issaure Medde) at the Mountain Bike Eliminator World Championship, while Colombia (Héctor Leonardo Páez León) and Switzerland (Ramona Forchini) took the gold medals at the Marathon Mountain BIke World Championship (Watch the Eliminator World Championship replay).
- War in México. Juan Francisco Estrada (MEX) defended his WBC Super Flyweight World Title by defeating Carlos Cuadras (MEX) in a rematch from their fight three years ago, which is a “Fight of the year” candidate. Cuadras was ahead in the first part of the fight and knocked Estrada down in Round 3 but Estrada knocked him out in Round 11. In the same card, Román González (NIC) successfully defended his WBA Superfly World TItle against Israel González (MEX), a valiant and good rival. This sets the plate for a rematch between Estrada and González. The Nicaraguan won eight years ago but Estrada is considered the #1 in this weight class. On the same card, Julio César “Rey” Martínez (MEX) defended his WBC Flyweight World Title against Moisés Calleros (MEX), who had a good first round but did not last two. He took the fight with a week’s notice and was over the weight limit, so the title was not on the line for him (Watch the highlights – DAZN).
- Equestrian wins went Dutch. The FEI Eventing Nations’ Cup Final in Italy was won by the local team but that was not enough to impede The Netherlands to take the Series crown. The Dutch also won the FEI Driving World Championship this weekend, with Saskia Siebers taking the individual crown and sharing the team championship with Rudolf Pestman and Frank van der Doelen (Watch the Singles – Centaure TV).
