A first Tour de France visit to the summit of Peyragudes in the Pyrenees could signal the last chance of glory for several yellow jersey challengers on Thursday.

At only 143.5 km, stage 17 is comparatively short but what it lacks in distance it will make up for in intensity, according to organizers.

At a nearly empty stadium in Dubai, several dozen runners had gathered in a bid to clock qualifying times for the London Olympics.

There were Africans runners stretching on the track and athletes from Europe mingling in the stands. Despite hosting the event, though, the United Arab Emirates was barely represented.

Even when he's looking at photos of his bleeding and blistered leg stumps, Oscar Pistorius smiles.

And with his Olympic debut approaching, it's easy to understand why.

Mike D'Antoni was there for the start of Linsanity, Kobe Bryant on the wrong end of its greatest highlight.

Neither imagined next season opening without Jeremy Lin on the New York Knicks.

Frank Schleck of Luxembourg pulled out of the Tour de France and spent several hours in a police station in southwest France on Tuesday after failing a doping test.

The UCI said Schleck tested positive for a banned diuretic called Xipamide on July 14, another reminder of the doping cloud that has damaged the image of cycling - and its biggest event.

Paris Saint-Germain have signed AC Milan's Swedish international striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic subject to him passing a medical, the French club's sporting director Leonardo told AFP on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old - who has previously played for among others Barcelona and Juventus - will be paid a reported 15 million euros ($18.4 million) a year, making him the highest-paid player in Ligue 1, should he pass a medical on Wednesday morning.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wants the English Premier League trophy back at Old Trafford next season.

He told a media conference Tuesday in this Indian Ocean city that regaining the symbol of English football supremacy was "priority number one" after being pipped at the post by neighbors Manchester City last season.

Jeremy Lin is leaving New York and taking Linsanity to Houston.

The New York Knicks announced Tuesday that they will not match the Houston Rockets' three-year, $25 million offer for Lin, a restricted free-agent.

A glut of Premier League sides including Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United are touring Asia this month hoping to cash in on the region's unquenchable thirst for English football.

QPR and Sunderland are also heading East, meaning a quarter of the Premier League will build up to the new season by jetting off to countries on the other side of the globe and where the searing heat can be punishing.

The Olympic Athletes' Village opened its doors Monday to the first competitors as the logistical operation to handle the arrival of thousands of athletes and officials shifted into a higher gear.

London's Heathrow Airport was expecting to handle a record number of passengers, with the Olympics arrivals swelling numbers to almost 237,000 at the west London hub, compared to 190,000 on an ordinary day.