The Real Madrid system debuted and also its star signing. While the team was still torn between the pause of the past and the speed of the future, Jude Bellingham marked the pace of the white team with star gestures. Valverde, who must be a key piece in that coming Madrid, was the other spicy touch of Carlo Ancelotti's squad without detriment to Vinicius, who begins the season as the other ended, showing off and facing off. All in all, Real Madrid managed to overcome an initial two-goal deficit to end up beating Milan 3-2.

The 40th minute arrived and Jude Bellingham gave a heel shot to nowhere that was cut off by the Milan defense. It was the first mistake made by the Englishman and almost the only one in his debut with Ancelotti's team. The first half of Real Madrid-Milan was coming to an end and between Militao, Nacho, Lucas and, above all, Mendy, they had already accumulated two goals against, and an even longer list of failures behind.

Real Madrid began their preseason at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (California) and people expected to see a Hollywood blockbuster, but they found a sweetened version of Bambi with spicy touches from the English medium in the first part and Valverde in the second. The rhombus was released on the white board, and Bellingham and Valverde were players of two rhombuses.

The first part was even between two great Europeans, semifinalists of the last edition of the Champions League. Milan sought to steal up front with high pressure and Real Madrid forgot about the touch of other campaigns and began its new era with quick transitions, more typical of the youth they have signed. Only Kroos maintained those remnants of a past Madrid, with more pause and less vertigo.

The first chances fell for the white team, thanks also to the return of a Brahim Díaz who moves well between the lines. However, Milan responded well, taking advantage of the cons and, especially, the rude errors of a defense that, except for Militao, seems to have few minutes next season. Mendy had several passes to the contrary that may not be transcendent due to the importance of this Champions Tour, but surely Ancelotti has taken good note of them.

However, and unfortunately for him, Nacho is the one who appears in the photos of the two Milan goals. In the first he does not finish closing the small area in a corner and Tomori finishes off without opposition to the back of the net. The second comes due to his error at the start that Romero collects and culminates from outside the area with a shot adjusted to Lunin's squad. Perhaps the Ukrainian goalkeeper could have done something more in the first, but the second was a real goal. Nacho so serious, sober and necessary last season to the point of earning the renewal, does not start well in this first test.

Uruguayan explosion

The second part began with a more bossy Madrid and with a completely renewed 11, eight changes compared to the first half. Vinicius and Rodrygo came out on top, replacing an absolutely invisible Joselu in the first half. Benzema is not the former Espanyol striker and Madrid would be wrong to expect a game similar to that of the Frenchman. Very few balls reached the striker of Galician origin.

The Brazilian duo was much more incisive in a slower and more rigid Milan defense, especially after Pioli waited until the 70th minute to make the changes. An internship by Rodrygo was the first Real Madrid warning until madness arrived at the Italian defense, taken advantage of by Valverde, MVP of the match. Special mention for the goalkeeper Portiello. Nobody knows what Madrid has to cause these temporary madness in the rival goalkeepers.

In the 56th minute, Valverde took advantage of an initial error when the Milan team left the ball to shoot from outside the area. It was not a very strong or tight shot, but Portiello slipped through his hands. Barely a minute later, the Uruguayan anticipated a pass from Tomori and, also from outside the area, beat Portiello again, this time with a powerful shot close to the post.

Milan, with the score tied, improved with the changes and matched a second half that had clear white overtones. However, Valverde reappeared to recover a ball, yield to Modric, and the Croatian would already take out his top hat to give a deep pass to Vinicius, who ate a soft Kjaer and defined low against Maignan, a substitute for the ill-fated Portiello.

Few conclusions can be drawn from a match that marks the start of the white season and from a new system that will mark the future of the game for Ancelotti's team. A rhombus with which the team had some problems to reach the outside and to maintain a high pressure that Ancelotti wants to be one of the pillars of this new Madrid.

A year ago, after winning his first Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard changed his phone number on the advice of Trine Hansen, his wife, 11 years his senior.. They say that now there are only 50 people who can call you. That was also part of the plan.

The plan. Over and over again, the Danish has used that word both to excuse himself in the bad days (few) and to explain the good ones (most).. Vingegaard's plan and, above all, the plan for the Jumbo Visma, the one that began the same day as the presentation of the 2023 Tour route, when he pouted at first, but then not so much, because on day 17, almost at the end, there was a gift for him. Back in the Alps, instead of the Granon, now it would be La Loze. “We knew that it was really made for Jonas,” explained Richard Plugge these days, the boss of the Dutch team, while rejecting for the umpteenth time all suspicions of doping about his pupil: “He doesn't like to take a paracetamol.”

The plan was to mature his only rival, a Tadej Pogacar with asterisks after his fall in Liège and his wrist injury. Make him believe, endure his attacks in more favorable stages for the Slovenian, not lose much in bonuses or agonizing endings. «Has attacked me for 15 days. By his aggressiveness I understood that at some point he would explode. Those who shoot too much are insecure and in the end they pay for it». And wait for Courchevel, the accumulated unevenness, as well as the fatigue. The Jumbo at full throttle from the start, infiltrated guys to act as a bridge, devilish rhythm. A true mountain stage, long and hard, tailored to a climber as the Tour has rarely seen. What Jonas perhaps didn't know is that not even that day he left Saint Gervais was going to be so decisive.

Vingegaard kisses his ring in the Combloux time trial. CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON EFE

The moral blow was dealt by the Dane in the time trial. It was also part of the plan. And, like everything, it was worked to the millimeter by the Jumbo machinery. He worked hard to hone his stance with Bert Blocken, the aerodynamics professor who works for the team.. Tuning your coupling on the Cervelo. And Jonas was as aggressive as he could be, drawing to the limit, scratching seconds from the start.. The conjunction of everything ended up becoming one of the most perfect time trial exercises in the history of the Tour. So amazing that Indurain would have signed it with 20 more kilos.

Those two days sum up his second victory in a row on the Tour, something that not so many did (Pogacar, Froome, Indurain, Lemond, Fignon, Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil, Bobet, Frantz, Bottecchia, Thijs and Petit Breton), already a legend. More for having defeated a cyclist of the stature of Pogacar in both. But much earlier, as always, Vingegaard was launched, which is considered better in its 2023 version due to a mixture of factors.. «Last year I got sick several times in the spring and had some physical mishap, this year not. And that makes a difference. I keep evolving, I'm improving. Although they are slight improvements, they are noticeable, ”he explained on Saturday in Le Markstein, his yellow shining.

When he talks about the plan, which is often, Jonas does it with astonishing confidence.. Even when Tadej harassed him, nine seconds before going to the Alps. Three times in a row he left the wheel, unprecedented, and the calm of the Dane was frightening, his half smile, so sure of himself now, that young man who came to work cleaning fish, who got on a bike because “he did not have much physique to play soccer” and people were hard on him. Who was not very good at cycling the first few years and then “was not able to withstand self-pressure”, vomited before each race due to stress, despite the fact that all the tests already indicated him as gifted. “Not everyone understood the plan, but we did,” he confirmed with everything finished, without giving further details: “If I reveal it to you…”.

Last year, after winning the Tour, Vingegaard did not compete again until September. A disappearance that raised suspicions. This time he has changed his plans. As announced yesterday in Marca, he will be in La Vuelta leading the Jumbo along with Primoz Roglic. Before, while his antagonistic rival was even thinking of going to the Glasgow World Cup in a few days, he will have the luxury of “eating a durum” back in Denmark, resting and enjoying his family, with his wife and his three-year-old daughter Frida. Because another of the keys to his overwhelming victory over Pogacar is his exclusive dedication to the Grande Boucle. Two shaped blocks, dotted with concentrations at altitude on Teide, Tignes and La de Mayo in the Sierra Nevada. And that this time was seen at the start of the season, as responding to the competitive abundance of Pogacar. He won the general and the three stages of O Gran Camiño in February. He was third in Paris-Nice after Pogi and Gaudu in March. In April, Itzulia signed up, with three of the six stages.

Then, the jump to June. While his rival was undergoing surgery, he was drawing up the Tour, 150 days away from home. The triumph in the Criterium Dauphiné as the definitive test until the start in Bilbao. «I have other objectives, but the Tour is the most important race in the world. It's very special. Yes, next year I will try again, “he warned, again the world at his feet from the sky of Paris.

The worst result of the year, with three points for its drivers, was not the only bad news for Aston Martin at the Hungaroring, where for the third consecutive race there was not even enough pace to fight for podium places.. Because even worse than that meager baggage was the distance that Fernando Alonso gave up against Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, the two fittest drivers in the World Cup: 75 seconds against the next world champion and 42 seconds with the young Briton..

In a 70-lap race, with two pit stops for all the favourites, the gap between the AMR23 and the two cars that set the standard is more than worrying.. That, not to mention Mercedes, which pushed George Russell from eighteenth on the grid to sixth at the finish.. “We had the second fastest car, although the result does not show it,” concluded Toto Wolff, pointing even without mentioning it, to Lewis Hamilton. “In theory, only Red Bull surpassed us, despite the fact that today we did not know how to monetize it,” added the Austrian.

Therefore, leaving aside some Red Bulls that are listed on another market, the landscape of Aston Martin is dyed every day in darker tones.. For the first time, after babbling some excuses at the Red Bull Ring or Silverstone, the team's main team admitted what everyone took for granted.. “It's disappointing, but also a reality check. We thought it was something specific to the previous two circuits and that we could be fast here.. But we haven't been,” admitted Mike Krack.

Too far from McLaren

And a look at the time tables is enough to understand Aston Martin's inability to find those three or four tenths that would have allowed Alonso to fight for position with Carlos Sainz or Russell. During the 20 laps of his first stint, with the medium tyre, the Spaniard was never able to drop below 1:25, a border regularly surpassed by the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Norris. And even worse were Lance Stroll's records in his 10 laps on soft rubber. Already with the hard compound, Alonso was able to ride regularly in 1:22 and 1:23 during the final stretch, in sections comparable to those of Mercedes or Sergio Pérez, despite the fact that by then he no longer had any option of approaching the lead.

In fact, the only moment of fun for the two-time world champion came on lap 22, with an overtake on Valtteri Bottas. After their astonishing performance on Saturday, the Alfa Romeos went backwards during the race, just as Alonso had predicted in the previous. And that was perhaps the only positive news for Aston Martin all weekend.

When asked about the most immediate need for the next race, on Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps, Alonso responded emphatically: “More grip”. Which is not without its astonishment, given the fabulous downforce that Aston Martin had during the first rounds of the World Cup.. At the Hungaroring, with almost 50ºC on the asphalt and a very slow passage through the curve, the AMR23 should have set the tone. And did not do it. “My ninth place reflects our pace, behind Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, which is more or less what we saw on Saturday,” conceded the Spaniard..

“We're suffering”

At the moment, not only the third place of the Spaniard is in danger, with a scant cushion against Hamilton (169-163), but also the third of the Constructors' World Championship, where Ferrari appears to 17 points (184-167). So work is piling up at the futuristic Silverstone factory to try to make up the ground lost in the second half of the championship. “I already said that we compete against very strong rivals when it comes to developing their cars and we are not fast enough,” added Krack on the DAZN microphones.

Conditions will vary completely this weekend at Spa, a motor track and pure power. With his feet on the ground, Alonso concedes that “it will also be difficult”, since he would need “more free practice sessions to test things and clear up doubts about whether something works or not”. Although he did not want to reiterate it, the man from Oviedo remains convinced that the change introduced by the FIA in Pirelli tires has not favored his options at all. And his final message should not leave anyone indifferent either: “There is no doubt that we are suffering.”

Halfway through the World Cup, with a couple of bizarre regulation changes included, Red Bull's abuse of power remains as valid as the first day. If people get bored, it's not a problem for Max Verstappen, who won at the Hungaroring with a 33-second advantage over Lando Norris, escorted to the podium by his teammate Sergio Pérez, ninth on the grid. Irrefutable facts against which Lewis Hamilton, author of pole position, but fourth at the finish line after a disastrous race, could not fight. Neither Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso have the resources to interfere among the best. As the championship rolls, the only question is whether Red Bull will leave some crumbs for the rest.

Sainz, eighth at the finish line, had enough to survive Ferrari's mistakes. Alonso, ninth, couldn't even give us a ponytail of genius. Relegated to that middle zone where he had suffered so much in Alpine, the Asturian was dragged by the anodyne. No rhythm in his Aston Martin, clearly behind McLaren and Mercedes, on Sunday it was a mere formality to bring some points to the garage. Two for him and one for Lance Stroll. This baggage, which at the beginning of the course could be interpreted as acceptable, now seems scarce.

From another dimension, beyond space-time, Red Bull must be evaluated, which at the Hungaroring broke another legendary record: 12 consecutive victories, one more than McLaren in 1988.. Verstappen's ninth in 11 races. And the sixth podium for Pérez, capable of resisting Hamilton's last attacks despite the weakness of his tires. This tyranny can be glossed in a thousand ways, but none will do true justice to what Christian Horner and Adrian Newey have achieved.

alpine drama

Not so long ago, Mercedes was in a similar situation, but now any breath shakes its structure. Like this outing in Hungary, when Hamilton focused on defending against Verstappen, forgetting what was happening a little further on with the McLarens.. There he left his privileged pole to fall off the cliff to fourth place. The Alpine drama, with an incident between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, triggered the double French abandonment, a drama comparable to the Australian GP.

Bad fate for the heirs of Renault, given that the greatest share of responsibility had to be attributed to Guanyu Zhou, stuck in the starting blocks and overrevving against Daniel Ricciardo, who ended up taking Otmar Szafnauer's men ahead. The commissioners immediately acted against the Chinese driver, although his five-second penalty, the minimum contemplated by the regulations, must be qualified as insufficient.

In contrast to such calamity, Sainz's start-up on the soft tires was magnificent. From eleventh to sixth place, in the wake of Charles Leclerc, untouchable by the Maranello staff. To Carlos's courage we must add Alonso's mettle, who did enough to hold Sergio Pérez before Red Bull, assisted by his DRS, snatched seventh place from him at the end of the straight.

“Have you turned off the engine?”

When Sainz looked at the Mexican in the mirrors, he already told his engineers that he would go in immediately to renew his shoes.. Actually, they should have put him in the pits much sooner to mount the new hard ones. Even with the strategic error, the man from Madrid, once again eleventh ahead of Stroll, at least was not exposed to the blunder of the red mechanics with Leclerc. The left rear wheel got stuck and the Monegasque stop was going to take 9.4 seconds.

Although to the chagrin, the one from Hamilton, who was trying the undercut against Norris when he suddenly found himself nine seconds behind. The classic It's hammer time, the rallying cry of its engineer, coincided with a debacle for the seven-time champion, unable to warm up his hard tires. His caustic question must have stung in the Mercedes garage: “Have you turned off the engine?” Not to keep quiet, Pete Bonnington responded that they were losing too much time on the straightaway and through Turns 10 and 14.

Leclerc, ahead of Sainz, on Sunday at the Hungaroring. AFP

With the McLaren without resources before an unapproachable Verstappen, it was necessary to dive into the fine print so as not to get too bored. On lap 47, Pérez sent Piastri unceremoniously into the grass. The FIA, as usual in recent races, left Checo unpunished, but showed the Australian a black and white flag for going over the white line in turn 4. Meanwhile, Leclerc added another notch to his fateful Sunday by exceeding the speed limits in the pitlane, penalized with five seconds. As the plans did not fit that way, Cedric Vasseur ordered an undercut for the Monegasque to recover the position against Sainz.

With 18 laps to go, Verstappen completed the last procedure in the pits to rejoin the asphalt with 12 seconds on Norris. With the yellow compound, without traffic or other trifles, the two-time world champion stopped the clock in 1:20.504, almost three seconds better than McLaren's records. A quick turn to melt logic. With 46ºC on the asphalt and with the new Pirelli compounds, let no one dare challenge the next world champion either.

The conditions of the track, both due to the heat of the asphalt and the twisting of its curves, seemed favorable for Aston Martin. And the illusion of Fernando Alonso, besieged since Thursday by the press, was still intact, not only because of the search for the 33rd victory, but because of a happy coincidence. At the Hungaroring, 20 years ago, the Asturian had secured his first victory in F1, which made him, at that time, the youngest winner in history. However, so many good omens were made yesterday ashes. “We are not fast enough to think about the podium, so we will have to grit our teeth during the race,” admitted the two-time world champion after his eighth place on the grid.

The rictus of Mike Krack, impassive before the monitors, nothing resembled yesterday that of Flavio Briatore in 2003, with his nerves on edge while he lit a cigarette on the sly on the wall. The Aston Martin main team analyzed every data from a qualifying session in which McLaren and Alfa Romeo had improved the performance of their AMR23. Although Alonso only gave up four tenths of a second to Lewis Hamilton, who took pole position, the regression of his car against the emerging adversaries was more evident than ever.

Another episode in the eternal love and hate story of the Asturian at the Hungaroring, where the controversial qualifying format was released yesterday, which requires alternating tires: hard in Q1, medium in Q2 and soft in Q3. This measure, with which the FIA intends to save 160 games per race and 3,840 over a season, has outraged Alonso, who yesterday did not hesitate to describe it as “horrible”. “What people want to see are drivers trying to go as fast as possible and progressing during the sessions,” added the double 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.. Something like what he himself exhibited at the Hungaroring on August 24, 2003.

regulatory licenses

Seen from today's perspective, that Renault strategy would be a simple draft compared to the intricate calculations of Aston Martin. In any case, Alonso's driving, less cerebral and more relentless, was better suited to those pure sprint races.. So the only order from the engineers was a no-nonsense attack from the start.. After the first lap, the leader already enjoyed a 1.96-second advantage over Mark Webber, a milestone that even today Max Verstappen would not feel capable of..

On the third lap, Alonso smashed the clocks, with a time four seconds faster than that of his immediate pursuer. That Sunday, only five rivals would finish on the same lap and even Michael Schumacher had to swallow the insult of seeing himself doubled with nine laps to go.

That F1 at that time presented those anomalies was due, in part, to the regulatory licenses by which a team released a car, almost entirely, in the middle of the season. That was the case of the Renault R23B, presented to society just a month earlier at Silverstone. The car, the work of Mike Gascoyne, technical director, Tim Densham, chief designer, and Bob Iley, head of aerodynamics, stood out for its evolutions in the chassis, the floor and the diffuser.

Alonso, at the controls of the AMR23 at the Hungaroring. AFP

The engine, an RS23 V10 fresh from the Viry-Chatillon factory, could develop enormous potential, although it was flawed.. In fact, minutes before the long-awaited checkered flag fell, Alonso admitted hearing all kinds of strange noises under the hood.. Before closing the season, that lack of reliability came to light with two breaks in the US GP and the Japanese GP. The Briatore staff, led by Bob Bell and Mark Smith, had no choice but to do without their engine for 2004.

Today, paradoxically, Aston Martin faces a totally different horizon.. Since the beginning of the championship, the British team has been one of those that has introduced the fewest improvements to its car and its performance director, Tom McCullough, has already confirmed that there will be no more evolutions until the Dutch GP, the last weekend of August..

The precedent of 2013

This factor is even more pressing against Alfa Romeo or McLaren, who have better adapted their designs to the new tire specification, released 15 days ago at Silverstone. These brand new Pirelli, with a stronger structure, cause less degradation. And the change in the rules of the game, in the middle of the season, has also outraged Alonso.

Because this case bears too many similarities with what happened in 2013, when Red Bull and Mercedes pushed for another swap in the compounds. After the pertinent approval of the FIA, Sebastian Vettel neutralized the disadvantage that he then had with Alonso to prevail in 10 of the 11 races. So today Aston Martin is almost as affected by the regulations as Red Bull, which at the Hungaroring has not even been able to lead any of the training sessions, with Sergio Pérez sweating to sneak into the top 10. “It is not nice to change the height of the basket ring in the middle of a championship,” Alonso settled yesterday.

Thirty-five years had passed since a Spaniard had lifted the Clarete Jug. Jon Rahm was so eager to succeed Severiano Ballesteros that on hole one he was ahead of his turn and was already shooting the ball when the starter still announced Viktor Hovland, his match partner.

Regardless of the anecdote, the day was British, one of those where fine drops of water stick into your face like pins. A chirimiri, as they would say in the land of the Basque, who did not discourage the thousands of fans who packed Royal Liverpool for the final chapter dressed in rain gear, an umbrella in their left hand and a beer in their right.

Rory McIlroy began to heat up the atmosphere at Hoylake with three birdies in the first five holes and entering the tournament with -6. He would finish in that figure as the sixth classified in the tournament, but without a real option of victory. The victory went to Brian Harman, who at 36 years old, manages to win for the first time in a major.

Jon came out aggressive, he had opportunities with long putts, but shot with courage and determination like those of the first four holes. In the five, the one from Barrika finished the birdie. His drive, far to the left and predestined for the bushes, ended in a clear corridor with a perfect position to attack the hole.. He finished off the first birdie of the day with a four-foot putt.

'Rahmbo' was close with -7 to three strokes from Harman, who started with a bogey on hole two and five, where he shot his tee ball into the same bush with which Rahm had flirted with luck just a few minutes before. It would be the moment where the Spanish got closer to the Jarra de Clarete.

No comeback options

Harman rebounded fast with two birdies to claw back a five shot lead. The putter was his best ally, holed out from 4 meters on the 6th hole and from 7 on the 7th hole. Harman cooled any hint of reaction from behind and Rahm's first bogey came on the first missed green of the day, on the par three of hole 9.

The second nine holes were tense for the Spaniard, who was saving pars while Harman exhibited a controlled golf, without loopholes for emotion. Rahm got a great start on the par 3 13th hole and birdied. After five feet, he was back in second at -7, now tied with Tom Kim and Straka.. But the leader was still solid, four shots behind Barrika's.

Then, the 14th hole cut short Rahm's short-lived reaction. He committed a bogey that seemed to be definitive. Five shots to recover with four holes ahead and an impassive Harman. So much so that he holed a huge cigar from 12 meters that returned the six rent shots and sentenced the tournament in his favor.

The rest of the championship was a triumphal ride for the little American golfer who golfs left-handed but does everything else right-handed.. His record explodes thanks to a tremendous display with the putter: he shot 50 times from three meters to the hole this week and holed out all. He concluded the day on Sunday with a card of 71 strokes, -13 under par in the accumulated.

A long birdie at 18 left Rahm tied for second at -7 (a -1 lap on the day), along with Tom Kim, Sepp Straka and Jason Day, his best Open position, six shots off the winner.. “Very happy with the weekend, you can't always win but I'm proud to have achieved my best performance in an Open.”

Rest

Rahm showed himself with renewed strength after this intense week. “The bad game of the last month is more related to fatigue, these last three weeks without playing have been very good for me. I had never recovered after Augusta and this past week I have come to feel just as good as I did the week before the Masters”, said the man from Barrika about his upcoming commitments, especially the FedEx and the Ryder Cup.

Finally, he said goodbye with words of admiration for the new 'Majors' winner, Brian Harman. “He's a great player, he's been there many times and today he finished it off. He has that grit of a great competitor and something extra to stay on top. He also has a great short game. The closest we've been has been to three strokes and the truth is that I'm very impressed with his game”.

Adrián Otaegui, who also made the tournament cut, finished with +1 this Sunday, five over par in total, tied for 55th place.