Three out of three CARLOS Sastre sealed his first Tour de France crown and became the third Spaniard in three years to win. The CSC rider, 33, retained the lead he carried over from Saturday's decisive time trial and cantered to the finish among the peloton to win by 58 seconds. Australia's Cadel Evans, runner-up in 2007, took second place again while Austria's Bernhard Kohl was third. Belgium's Gert Steegmans won the final 143km stage from Etampes to Paris, which finished in the Champs Elysees. The green jersey, awarded to the best sprinter overall, went to Rabobank's Spanish rider Oscar Freire, who finished in the top 10 of eight stages. Gerolsteiner rider Kohl added the polka dot jersey, which signifies his status as the King of the Mountains for the 2008 Tour, to his third-place finish overall, while Sastre's teammate Andy Schleck took the white jersey for the best young rider (under the age of 25) title. But the day belonged to the unassuming Sastre who enjoyed the traditional relaxed final-day procession into Paris. Sastre follows Oscar Pereiro in 2006 and Alberto Contador in 2007 as Tour de France winners. Barton freed FOOTBALLER Joey Barton has been released from jail after serving two months of a six-month sentence for attacking a man. The 25-year-old Newcastle midfielder was captured on CCTV in Liverpool on 27 December punching a man. He admitted assault and affray in April for the attack which was branded a "violent and cowardly act" by a judge. Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan said on Sunday that the footballer still had a future with the club. The �40,000-a-week footballer, who is originally from Huyton in Merseyside, began his football career with Manchester City in 2002. He was then sold to Newcastle United in June 2007 in a �5.8m deal, four months after he had made his full international debut for England. On 1 July Barton was given a four-month sentence suspended for two years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court for assaulting teammate Ousmane Dabo when they were both at Manchester City. He admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for repeatedly punching Dabo in the attack which left his colleague unconscious and covered in blood. The pair clashed during a training session on 1 May 2007. Dabo, 31, pushed Barton's shoulder and was knocked unconscious. In court eyewitnesses recalled Barton getting on top of the player and repeatedly hitting him. Dabo was treated in hospital for the effects of head trauma, an inflamed eye and bruised eyelids. He also suffered from headaches for three weeks and missed several matches. In addition to being given a suspended sentence for the attack on his teammate, Barton was also ordered to carry out 200 hours community service and to pay �3,000 compensation to Dabo as well as footing the prosecution costs. In May Barton was cleared of vandalising a taxi on a night out in Merseyside. Chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association Gordon Taylor said he welcomed Keegan's decision to give Barton a second chance. Nadal almost top RAFAEL Nadal continued his seemingly unstoppable march towards the world number one spot by capturing the Toronto Masters title. The Spaniard brushed aside Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 6-2 to clinch his fifth straight tournament and take his winning streak to 29 matches. Nadal is now only 300 points behind Roger Federer in the world rankings. The 22-year-old has a chance of ending the Swiss star's reign at the Cincinnati Masters this week. "I think I have to be happy, very happy if I am number one or number two," said Nadal, the French Open and Wimbledon champion. "If I am number two it's because in front of me there is an amazing player like Roger. "Every player wants to be number one. I would love to be. But I'm number two now. I'm very happy for that." Nadal will become number one if he wins the Cincinnati title and Federer loses before the semi-finals. If not, Federer's four-and-a-half year stint at the top of the rankings seems likely to end on 18 August when he loses the 850 points he gained for reaching last year's Toronto final and winning in Cincinnati. Nadal, by contrast, will only lose 230 points. The Toronto title was Nadal's 30th, making him the third youngest player after Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors to reach that landmark "I'll think about the record when my career is over," said the 22- year-old. "Right now, my most important goal was to win Toronto." Unseeded German Kiefer was playing in his first Masters Series final at the age of 31, but he was no match for an in-form Nadal. The Spaniard broke serve for the first time to go 3-2 up and took the first set when Kiefer double-faulted. And once Nadal had come through an epic game at 2-2 in the second, he proved unstoppable. Cameroon change CAMEROON have been forced to make a last minute change to their 18-man squad for the men's football tournament at the Olympics. The squad is currently in Hong Kong for a warm-up event that includes three other Olympic hopefuls, Holland, the USA and the Ivory Coast. Midfielder Landry Nguemo, who plays for Nancy in France, has withdrawn from the squad because of illness and is replaced by forward Serge Ngal of Uniao Leiria in Portugal. The ING Cup kicks off on Wednesday in Hong Kong as Holland take on Cameroon and the US meet Ivory Coast. On Saturday Holland will play Ivory Coast and the US will meet Cameroon. The Dutch and the Americans will not meet in Hong Kong, but will be closely watching each other because the two sides are in Group B in the Olympics. Africa's other representatives, Nigeria, are also in Group B at the Games along with Japan. Arsenal's Alex Song, the nephew of Cameroon's most capped player Rigobert Song, Rennes' Stephane Mbia and Reading's Andre Bikey are the big names for the country that won the Sydney 2000 Olympics gold medal. Cameroon have named two over-aged players in their squad, Turkey-based striker Gustave Bebbe and Antonio Ghomsi, who plays in Italy. At the Games in Beijing Cameroon are in Group D with Italy, Honduras and South Korea. Ivory Coast are anchored by Chelsea's Salomon Kalou, Le Mans' Gervinho and Sekou Cisse from the Dutch club Roda JC. The Ivorians are in Group A at the Olympics with Argentina, Australia and Serbia. Holland, back-to-back European under-21 champions in 2006 and 2007, are led by Real Madrid's Royston Drenthe and Liverpool's Young Player of the Season Ryan Babel. Ghana-born teenager Freddy Adu, on loan to Monaco from Benfica, and veteran Brian McBride will headline the American squad. German Zambia aid THE GERMAN government has offered to pay for Zambia's national team to train in Germany for 10 days starting next month. The trip is expected to cost around $30,000, and Zambia will only need to pay for their air fares to Germany. Zambian fans have often criticised the team's inadequate preparations. The Chipolopolo are preparing for their 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Togo on 6 September, a game that Zambia need to win to stay in contention to reach the second group phase of the qualifiers. The training trip is from 15 to 24 August, and will include two matches for the Chipolopolo. Zambia's Sports Minister Gabriel Namulambe and German Ambassador Irene Hinrichsen announced the arrangement. "It's only that we can't express it by way of dancing but we are so excited they gave us this offer," said Namulambe. Earlier this year, Germany offered to help Liberia's national team with a similar training tour. But it was called off after many of the Liberian players did not get the necessary visas to travel.
