Hilfestellungen » first time since March 26, 2011, when he went w

MIRADOR DE EZARO, Spain -- Alexandre Geniez of France held off an attack by the title favorites on a brutal final climb to win the third stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Monday.Geniez completed the hilly 176.4-kilometer (109.6-mile) ride along the Atlantic coast finishing at the Mirador de Ezaro summit in 4 hours, 28 minutes, 36 seconds. The FDJ rider collapsed to the ground after recording his second career win on the Spanish grand tour, needing several minutes to rest before stepping onto the podium.Geniez compared the short, but very steep ascent to a little Alpe dHuez, one of the classic mountain climbs of the Tour de France.I worked very hard to arrive to the Vuelta in good shape, he said. The group didnt increase its pace until late, and by then they couldnt do anything.Ruben Fernandez crossed 21 seconds later and took the overall lead. He claimed the red jersey after leading a late charge by Movistar that shook up the times among the contenders, and dropped Alberto Contador even further off the lead.Alejandro Valverde was third, just ahead of Tour champion Chris Froome and fellow race rivals Esteban Chaves and Nairo Quintana.Valverde, the 2009 Vuelta winner, moved into second overall at seven seconds behind Fernandez. Froome is 11 seconds back, followed by Chaves and Quintana at 17.Three-time Vuelta winner Alberto Contador couldnt stay with that bunch on the last ascent, which had a gradient that reached 30 percent.After losing more ground, Contador will start Tuesdays stage 1 minute, 31 seconds off the lead.It wasnt a good day, but like I have said before, the Vuelta is far from over, Contador said. I am not satisfied, but I feel that my conditioning will improve over the coming days.Fernandez looked like he had the legs to catch Geniez, but the Spaniard let up momentarily when it appeared Quintana and Valverde couldnt keep up. When Movistar released him from pulling his leaders up the ascent, it was too late to catch Geniez.The idea was to work for Nairo and Alejandro, but at the end they told me to go for it, Fernandez said.Warren Barguil became the first rider to withdraw from the race, quitting because of a sinus infection.Astanas Miguel Angel Lopez crashed near the end of the stage. Lopez was named the team leader after 2015 Vuelta winner Fabio Aru didnt return for this edition.Tuesdays stage remains in the hilly northwestern coast, with a 163.5-kilometer (101.5-mile) ride from Betanzos to a summit finish at San Andres de Teixido.The 21-stage grand tour ends in Madrid on Sept. 11. John Cominsky Youth Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Brett Favre Falcons Jersey . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. http://www.falconsrookiestore.com/Falcons-Kendall-Sheffield-Jersey/ .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Qadree Ollison Womens Jersey . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. John Cominsky Womens Jersey . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets overcame their inability to make defensive stops by running over the Brooklyn Nets on the offensive end.James Harden had 36 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Rockets to their seventh straight win, 122-118 over the Nets on Monday night.Theres 82 games -- every game isnt going to be perfect, Harden said. Youve got to figure out ways to win, and thats what we did tonight.Eric Gordon scored 24 points on 6-for-10 shooting on 3-pointers, and Ryan Anderson added 19.for the Rockets. Houston shot 17 for 43 on 3s, making at least 10 for an NBA-record 24th straight game.Brook Lopez scored 26 points and Sean Kilpatrick added 17 for the Nets.They made some plays and we didnt, Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said. It couldve gone either way.Jeremy Lin returned to action for Brooklyn for the first time since Nov. 2 when he suffered a strained left hamstring. Although Lin did not start, he played 20 minutes off the bench, scoring 10 points.Atkinson said Lins presence on the court helped Brooklyns offense by keeping the team organized and said he was glad Lin didnt try to do too much following a five-week absence.I felt a lot better than I thought I would with my wind, but I struggled with the rhythm, Lin said. The shots, the feel and getting back out there -- you practice all these shots, but I got in there and it felt like I was shooting a football.Brooklyn trailed for much of the game until Joe Harris tied it at 118 with a layup with less than 40 seconds remaining.Gordon gave Houston a two-point lead with a free throw with 11.9 seconds left, and the Rockets came up with a key steal on the ensuing inbound pass. Gordon then made two more from the line and the Rockets held on for the win.We were just lackadaisical, Gordon said. Luckily, we made some plays in the end that helped us win. We definitely need a wake-up call, but we know what we need to do. Its good that we get a win, but theres all the little things that we need to do to be a better team.The Rockets improved to 7-0 in December while knocking Brooklyn down to 1-5 in the month. The Nets havent won on the road since Nov. 12.Houston outscored Brooklyn by five in each of the first two quarters to take a 53-43 lead at the half.ddddddddddddBrooklyn cut the lead to five to start the fourth quarter.I think we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say individually we could have done a better job, and as a team, we could have done a better job, too, Anderson said.TIP-INSNets: C Justin Hamilton missed his second straight game with migraines. Atkinson said he will be reevaluated in a few days. ... The Nets scored 42 points in the third quarter, the teams most points in a quarter this season.Rockets: Houston allowed 68 points in the paint, a season high for their opponents. ... Harden passed Eric Sleepy Floyd (2,363 assists) for seventh on the franchises all-time assists list. ... Trevor Ariza had three steals and two blocks for Houston.COVERING LOPEZThe Rockets struggled to contain Brook Lopez for the entire game. Rockets coach Mike DAntoni switched gears and let veteran center Nene play 24 minutes off the bench and starting center Clint Capela less than 19 minutes.When asked if Nene was a better matchup for Lopez than Capela, DAntoni didnt hesitate.Much better, much better, DAntoni said. Nenes more experienced, more bulk. Clint will learn through this stuff, and Brook is a very good offensive player, really good offensive player. They all had their hands full with him.WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIMEUntil he came up with his only rebound of the game with less than 16.9 seconds remaining, Lopez was nearly held without a rebound for the first time since March 26, 2011, when he went without a rebound in 31 minutes against Atlanta.I need to be more aggressive getting to the glass, Lopez said. Im not trying to make any excuses -- I need to do better in that category.HONORING SCOLANets forward Luis Scola, who played with Houston from 2007-12, was honored by the Rockets after the first quarter as part of the teams celebration of its 50th season. A video tribute featuring interviews from Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier was played and Scola was given an ovation when shown on the videoboard.UP NEXTNets: Host the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.Rockets: Host Sacramento on Wednesday night. ' ' '