Tour de France organizers ASO have been forced to "adjust the route of stage six of the 2015 edition because of a landslide en route to Le Havre." The D75 Route de Pourville near Dieppe has been closed to heavy vehicles since January this year, with a report on the cliff’s stability due in mid-'15. Following the latest landslide, the previous of which occurred in Dec. '12 and April '13, the ASO tweeted that it will be "changing the course of the Tour in order to avoid the road in question" (CYCLING WEEKLY, 12/11). ... The head of Egypt's swimming federation on Thursday denied saying that politics were "behind his country's decision to pull out of this month's short-course swimming championship in Qatar." Egypt Swimming Federation President Yasser Idriss said, "The Egyptian federation's decision not to participate in the world
swimming championships in Qatar was taken for technical reasons which we
detailed in our exchanges with the International Swimming Federation." Idriss on Nov. 11 said that the federation had "pulled
out of the competition, which ended on Sunday, because of political
disagreements with host Qatar" (AFP, 12/11). ... Hamburg, Germany "is bidding to host the 2019 World Rowing Championships." Rowing governing body FISA "confirmed four cities submitted bids to host the event." Hamburg's opponents are Linz-Ottensheim (Austria), Racice (Czech Republic) and Varese (Italy) (SID, 12/10).
