SAINT-LO, France -- The landing beaches. The war cemeteries. The museums. The first towns that were liberated more than 70 years ago.The D-Day and World War II history that is embedded in the culture of Normandy is earning extra spotlight this weekend when the Tour de France opens with two stages in the region.Saturdays opening leg starts at Mont-Saint-Michel, a World Heritage Benedictine abbey perched on a rock off the coast, and ends at Utah Beach, one of the key landing sites for Allied troops on June 6, 1944.The first stage also passes through Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where American paratrooper John Steele dangled from a clock tower after his parachute got caught during the invasion, and survived. The town is now home to the Airborne Museum.Stage 2 on Sunday finishes in Cherbourg-En-Cotentin, site of the Battle of Cherbourg.Tejay van Garderen, the BMC rider who represents the United States best hope for overall victory in the Tour, was wide eyed as he took a look around this week.It really puts into perspective what were doing here, Van Garderen said on Friday. We always say that were soldiers going to war and then you see the real soldiers and youre like, `OK, maybe this is just bike racing.Teams were driven into the official team presentation in Sainte-Mere-Eglise on WWII-era jeeps and trucks on Thursday.I like the way organizers and the local people here have put together the appropriate historical reminders, that teams have been accompanied on the jeeps by the local people in costumes, said Brian Cookson, the British president of the International Cycling Union.A legacy of the war was freedom, underlined by the diversity of the Tour teams.Van Garderen, who was in third place when he had to abandon last years Tour in tears due to illness four stages from the end, shares the BMC leadership with Australian standout Richie Porte. They are backed by riders from Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Belgium.Were such an international team, Van Garderen said. It shows that the world has come a long way.The favorites for overall victory in the three-week race are two-time winner Chris Froome of Britain, two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombia, and two-time champion Alberto Contador of Spain.After Saturdays stage, a group of American, British, Canadian, French, and German riders will lay white roses in front of Utah Beachs Peace Monument to commemorate the Allied landings.We will celebrate cycling as a peace symbol, Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. The only thing that prevented the Tour de France taking place was world war, twice.Started in 1903, the Tour is beginning its 103rd edition. The only years it wasnt held came from 1915-18 and 1940-46.French rider Thomas Voeckler, whose grandfather fought during WWII, volunteered to take part in the ceremony, along with German sprinting standout Andre Greipel and Van Garderen.Amael Moinard, a French member of BMC, was born in Cherbourg and knows all about D-Day.Growing up here, Ive been into it from an early age because all our school trips were related to D-Day commemorations: Utah Beach, the Sainte-Mere-Eglise museum, the Caen memorial, Moinard said. Then the 50th D-Day anniversary was something big for me, with all the presidents from countries across the world coming to Normandy. Its nice to start here.Like the paratroopers before him, Moinard has a deep understanding of the winds in La Manche, as this area of Normandy is called. The way he sees it, the seven kilometers (four miles) of exposed road along the coast with 30 kilometers to go in the opening stage will evoke more fear about the wind -- which has the potential to split the peloton in two -- than the wind itself.As soon as you see the sea on the map each rider will say, `Its going to be windy, tricky, Moinard explained. Its going to make everybody nervous, and for sure a crash will happen. So all of the leaders and sprinters will want to be in the front.But then we take a much more protected road for the last 25K, Moinard added. So its more telling them, `Just be relaxed. Everything is going to be OK, hopefully.---AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampfNMD Clearance . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. NMD Sale . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/ . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. NMD Replica . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. NMD Online .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche.Hanging on to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, a desperate Sporting Kansas City travels for a Saturday game at San Jose, a site where Kansas City has not won since 2000.To make things worse, SKC also is riding a 12-game road winless streak dating back to early April. SKC leads Seattle by five points, but the Sounders have two games in hand.An equally desperate San Jose Earthquakes squad, six points below the red line, are hoping to make the MLS playoffs for the first time since 2012, and the three points that would come with a home win would be very handy.Both clubs enter Saturdays match on five-game winless streaks in all competitions. Sporting (11-12-7, 40 points) settled for a pair of home draws in its last two matches. The ninth-place Earthquakes (7-8-13, 34 points) have won just twice over the last four monthsThe problem for San Jose has been the offense. The Earthquakes are last in MLS with 0.96 goals per game and have scored just eight times over their last 10 matches -- a stretch that incluudes six ties and two defeats.dddddddddddd They have even struggled at home, winning just one of their last eight at Avaya Stadium (1-2-5).Sporting had hoped to build on its home success, but back-to-back draws against the Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy have left Kansas City searching for answers on the road. The fact that both games saw the opposition score in the closing moments -- Houston late in stoppage time -- makes the draws harder to accept.SKCs Dom Dwyer scored his team-leading 14th goal of the year against Los Angeles, moving into the top five on the MLS scoring charts. Jacob Peterson extended a career high with his sixth goal of the season, five of which have come since July 24. Benny Feilhaber has notched five assists in his last seven appearances.U.S. international forward Chris Wondolowski leads San Jose with 10 goals, but seven of those came before the end of April. ' ' '
