ITALY-- Portuguese rider Joao Almeida saw off Geraint Thomas to win stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday with an impressive late sprint on the slopes of Monte Bondone, while the Welshman regained the leader's maglia rosa jersey. Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) launched his attack with around five km remaining and beat Thomas in a two-man sprint to earn his first Giro stage win after a mountainous 203-km route that totalled over 5,000m of elevation gain. Almeida and Thomas took the fight to race favourite Primoz Roglic, who crossed the line 25 seconds off the pace in third.

"A special victory, a dream come true," said Almeida, who climbed to second in the overall standings. "I worked together with Thomas to put seconds between us and Roglic, but then my main goal was the stage win. I try to improve day by day to become the best version of myself." Ineos Grenadiers rider Thomas, who lost the overall lead to Bruno Armirail on Saturday, leads Almeida by 18 seconds, with Roglic third at 29 seconds back. "It was a very tough day, a lot of climbs," Thomas said. "I am happy with how it went.

I found myself in front with Almeida, he was better in the sprint. "I am not surprised by him, he is a very strong rider and a strong pretender for the maglia rosa." Ineos, who have already lost Tao Geoghegan Hart to a fractured hip and Filippo Ganna to COVID, suffered another blow when Pavel Sivakov abandoned the race midway through Tuesday's ride, which began at Sabbio Chiese. Sivakov was injured in the crash that ended Geoghegan Hart's race on Stage 11. His withdrawal leaves Thomas with only four support riders in the final week. Wednesday's stage 17 is a 195-km route from Pergine Valsugana to Caorle.

TORONTO --Cedric Mullins capped his five-hit performance with a two-run double in a five-run 11th inning, lifting the visiting Baltimore Orioles to an 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. Mullins' third career five-hit performance fueled the Orioles to a sweep of the three-game series.

Each team scored once in the 10th inning before Baltimore erupted in the 11th. Muilins singled home automatic runner Jorge Mateo in the 10th against Nate Pearson. Mullins, however, was caught stealing on a strikeout to complete a double play. Whit Merrifield's one-out single against Austin Voth scored automatic runner Daulton Varsho in the bottom of the 10th. Mike Baumann (3-0) replaced Voth and picked off Merrifield at first base. In the 11th, Yimi Garcia (1-2) allowed Adam Frazier's one-out single that moved automatic runner Ryan McKenna to third before Austin Hays hit an RBI single. Gunnar Henderson singled to load the bases and pinch hitter Terrin Vavra hit a two-run single before Mullins added a two-run double. Baumann pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 11th to seal the win. Matt Chapman hit a solo home run for Toronto. Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed two runs, six hits and two walks in eight innings.

Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer allowed one run, nine hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. He matched his career best with seven strikeouts. Chapman led off the second with his sixth homer of the season. Joey Ortiz led off the third with a double, He took third on a single by Mullins, who stole second. Ortiz scored on Adley Rutschman's groundout to second. Mullins scored from third, beating the throw home on Anthony Santander's grounder to first. Kremer pitched around two singles in the bottom of the fourth, including the first career major-league hit by Nathan Lukes.

Chapman walked to lead off the home sixth and took second on Alejandro Kirk's one-out single, Cionel Perez replaced Kremer. Mychal Givens, activated from the injured list for the game, walked George Springer to open the seventh, Bo Bichette singled, The runners advanced to second and third on a groundout to the pitcher, Brandon Belt was intentionally walked. Chapman hit a sacrifice fly.

  EMPOLI, Italy-- Juventus were handed a crushing 4-1 defeat at lowly Empoli in Serie A on Monday after they were docked 10 points in a new ruling over their transfer dealings, which makes it unlikely they will qualify for the Champions League.

LEVERKUSEN, Germany-- AS Roma earned a 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in their Europa League semi-final return leg on Thursday to reach the showpiece match with a 1-0 aggregate win. The Rome side have now reached back-to-back European finals under coach Jose Mourinho following last season's Europa Conference League title. The visitors were on the backfoot for the entire game and had to survive intense pressure from the Germans, who missed a lot of chances and also hit the woodwork, as they advanced thanks to last week's 1-0 win in Italy. They will play the winners of the other semi-final between Sevilla and Juventus in the final on May 31 in Budapest.

It all started well for Leverkusen, looking to reach their first European final in 21 years. Apart from a second minute chance for Roma's Lorenzo Pellegrini, the hosts had the upper hand in the first half with a dozen efforts on goal compared to their opponents' one. Moussa Diaby rattled the crossbar with a powerful shot in the 12th minute and Kerem Demirbay's low drive in the 21st was saved by goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

The visitors tried to push up a bit higher in the second half to intercept Leverkusen's attacks earlier but the hosts kept finding ways to create chances. Demirbay forced another good save in the 67th from Patricio, who thought he was beaten by Sardar Azmoun minutes later only for the Iranian's shot to sail just wide. Leverkusen, whose last major title dates back to 1993, had 23 efforts on goal but it was Mourinho's Roma that went through even if they had just the one effort on goal in the entire game. "All that was missing was a goal," said Leverkusen's Demirbay. "We did not have that bit of luck. It was bitter not to be rewarded for such a performances. But I am proud of the way we played."