It took Antoine Dupont and his status as his sport’s best player to finally end Fiji’s dominance of Olympic rugby sevens, helping France win a gold medal at a raucous Stade de France. Dupont scored two tries and set up another after going on as a second-half replacement and France won a coveted title with a 28-7 victory.
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Remco Evenepoel took a sensational gold in the men’s individual time trial for Belgium, charging around the Paris parcours to beat Italy’s Filippo Ganna and countryman Wout van Aert to the top step of the Olympic podium. Ganna was second with Van Aert third, as Team GB’s Josh Tarling missed out to finish fourth.
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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position after qualifying second fastest behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. World champion Verstappen dominated qualifying in the rain and beat Leclerc by 0.595 seconds but has a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his permitted number of engine components. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was third fastest, so will be promoted to the front row alongside Leclerc.
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Alpine team principal Bruno Famin has confirmed he will step down from his role at the head of the F1 team at the end of August. Famin, who took over as team principal at the Renault-owned outfit almost a year ago to the day from Otmar Szafnauer following last year’s Belgian GP, says he will move on to concentrate on the other aspects of his Alpine role, based at their French headquarters in Viry-Chatillon, where he is vice-president of their motorsport projects.
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The US-based Haas team have signed Alpine driver Esteban Ocon on a multi-year contract for the 2025 Formula 1 season. Ocon, 27, made his debut in F1 in 2016 and picked up his first and only race win at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. The Frenchman will partner rookie Ollie Bearman next season as the team opt for a completely new driver pairing after letting Kevin Magnussen go while Nico Hulkenberg heads to Sauber.
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