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Thursday Tour de France — Stage 18, 5 a.m., VERSUS PGA — Canadian Open, Noon, TGC Senior British Open — 1st Round, 9 a.m., ESPN2 Softball — Czech Republic vs U.S., 5 p.m., ESPN Voeckler holds Tour lead PINEROLO, Italy (AP) — Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway won the 17th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, the first of three days in the Alps, while Thomas Voeckler retained the yellow jersey but lost time after riding off course on the final descent. Defending champion Alberto Contador made repeated attempts to get away from his rivals, but was caught on each occasion. He finished in the same time as Cadel Evans, the Schleck brothers and Samuel Sanchez. Voeckler lost 27 sec- onds and is 1 minute, 18 seconds ahead of Evans. The 2010 Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso also lost time. Boasson Hagen completed the 111 miles across the Alps from Gap to the Italian town of Pinerolo in 4 hours, 18 minutes. Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands was second, 40 seconds back, with Sandy Casar of France winning the sprint for third. Voeckler went too fast on a hairpin turn, skidded onto the shoulder of the forested Alpine road, then raced back to try to catch Contador and Sanchez after they sped by. ‘‘It’s a pity, because I saw that Contador, Evans and the Schlecks finished together. If I’d taken fewer risks, I would have finished with them,’’ he said. The high-speed pursuit led to another mishap in which he jumped a curb, rolled into a small car park and almost crashed. ‘‘It was a fraction of a second, but it seemed like an eter- nity. I closed my eyes and lifted the front wheel and when I opened my eyes, I was still on the bike,’’ Voeckler said. ‘‘So I said, ’OK, here we go: U-turn and back to the race.’’’ Contador was not downhearted by his failure to get away. ‘‘I felt good, and you’ve got to try,’’ he said. He didn’t want to talk about the stages to come. Boasson Hagen recorded his second stage win and the fourth overall for Norway in this year’s race. ‘‘It was very difficult yesterday, and today I was able to do better,’’ Boasson Hagen said. ‘‘I felt I was capable of attacking on the last climb.’’ Mollema was second after Frenchman Jonathan Hivert crashed on the perilous final descent of the Pramartino. Hivert got back on his bike and came in ninth. Boasson Hagen praised the large contingent of Norwegian fans that has been supporting him and Hushovd throughout the race. ‘‘It’s really great to see all the Norwegian flags and Nor- wegian people around the course. It gives some extra power.’’ Evans becomes more of a favorite for the title with every day he keeps his advantage of nearly two minutes over Con- tador. ‘‘With shadows and stuff it was real hard to see. Voeckler ran off the road in front of me — twice I think. It makes you take things more cautiously. You don’t ever want to lose time to anyone,’’ the Australian said. ‘‘I’ve got a good advantage over Alberto now, but Alberto has shown in years gone by what he can do when he’s really at his top.’’ Britain’s Mark Cavendish came in 166th of the 169 fin- ishers, more than 14 minutes behind Boasson Hagen, but still held on to the green jersey for the best sprinter after four vic- tories in the flat stages. Six of his HTC-Columbia teammates nursed him through to the end. The second of the three Alpine stages on Thursday con- tains three climbs that are so steep they aren’t even given a category. It ends with the 14.2-mile climb of the famed Col du Galibier. The full stage is 125 miles, starting at Pinerolo. Also Wednesday, Russian team Katusha confirmed that rider Alexandr Kolobnev’s backup sample tested positive for a banned masking agent. Kolobnev became the first rider in this year’s Tour to fail a doping control when his urine sam- ple taken after the fifth stage had traces of hydrochloroth- iazide, a diuretic that can hide the presence of other drugs. Kolobnev was in 69th place when he left the race before the 10th stage. Katusha said Kolobnev is suspended until the Russian cycling federation holds a disciplinary hearing. He faces a two-year suspension. Kolobnev was given the bronze medal in the 2008 Bei- jing Olympics road race after the original bronze medalist, Davide Rebellin of Italy, was found guilty of doping. No player vote Wednesday WASHINGTON (AP) — NFL players didn’t vote Wednesday on a full proposal to settle the league’s labor dis- pute, citing several outstanding issues, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person said there was agreement among representa- tives of all 32 clubs on what items needed to be resolved before any offer would be accepted. A second person, also speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are supposed to be secret, said those players gave what was termed ‘‘conditional approval’’ of the proposal — as it stood Wednesday. ‘‘We still have a lot of work to do,’’ said Pro Bowl offen- sive lineman Tyson Clabo, who played for the Atlanta Fal- cons last season. The meeting at the NFL Players Association headquar- ters lasted nearly 10 hours and included the group’s execu- tive committee and the team reps. In Atlanta, where the own- ers’ labor committee met, general counsel Jeff Pash said the sides would talk through the night in hopes of having a final agreement ready to go Thursday. ‘‘It’s obviously a complicated agreement, but I think both sides are at the point where they can close, they should close, and we should be in a position to take votes,’’ Pash, the own- ers’ lead negotiator, said following a five-hour session at a hotel near Atlanta’s airport. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell joined the meeting of nine of the 10 members of the labor committee, which hoped to recommend a finalized proposal to all club owners, who are due there on Thursday. Remaining issues are believed to include how to set aside three pending court cases: The players’ antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in federal court in Minnesota; the TV networks case, in which players accused owners of setting up $4 billion in ‘‘lockout insur- ance,’’ money that the league would receive even if there were no games played in 2011; and a collusion case, in which players said owners conspired to restrict salaries last offseason. ‘‘I think that’s the healthy outcome: to have a complete, comprehensive, global agreement that settles all the disputes and puts us on a path where we are going forward together as business partners, the way it should be, rather that going forward with one hand and fighting over something that should be in the past,’’ Pash said. Asked whether owners would consider approving an agreement Thursday, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson smiled and said: ‘‘I’m always ready for a vote.’’ SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tim Lincecum and Clayton Ker- shaw matched each other pitch for pitch, knowing the smallest mistake could cost their team the game. ‘‘I flinched first,’’ Lincecum said. Kershaw was one pitch better than Lincecum in a matchup of All-Star aces, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers past the San Francisco Giants 1-0 to avoid a three-game sweep. Lincecum (8-8) allowed only Dioner Navarro’s home run lead- ing off the seventh. The splash shot that landed in McCovey Cove was all the pop Los Ange- les showed on a day hitting coach Jeff Pentland was fired, and all they needed behind Ker- shaw’s gem. ‘‘Clayton’s ridiculous again,’’ Lincecum said. ‘‘I think he’s reached his potential just from watching him.’’ Kershaw (11-4) allowed three hits in eight innings to help the Dodgers snap a four-game losing streak and six overall to the Giants. He struck out 12 to improve his major-league lead to 167 this season. The hard-throwing lefty low- ered his ERA against San Fran- cisco to 1.41, the lowest of any pitcher against the defending World Series champions. He also beat Lincecum on opening day this season. ‘‘We were struggling. We needed a win,’’ he said. ‘‘The MCT photo San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum pitches Thursday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. One pitch costs the Freak and Giants wins count the same no matter who they’re against.’’ San Francisco’s shaggy-haired righty seemed in control on a day he had to be at his dominating best. Lincecum allowed five hits in seven-plus innings in another solid start with little run support. He struck out seven and walked four, never getting into any seri- ous jams. Giants All-Star third baseman Pablo Sandoval didn’t start because of tightness in his right quadriceps and right fielder Nate Scheirholtz was given the day off, and the retooled lineup did- n’t give Lincecum any room for error. All it took was one pitch to wash away an otherwise solid start. Navarro became the 24th opposing player and first this season to hit a home run into McCovey Cove, taking a 1-0 fastball off Lincecum over the right-field wall in the seventh. It was the fourth time Lincecum gave up a splash shot in his career, and the eighth time this season he walked off the mound with his team held scoreless. ‘‘You got two of the better young talents in the game going at it, and I guess the game went pretty much went how I thought except they got the run one,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘These are two of the best and we are in the same division so it won’t be the last time they match up.’’ Navarro knew the ball was gone the second he hit it, and he found out watching the video replay in the clubhouse that it was a true splash shot — some- thing he’s always wanted to do. ‘‘I’ve been trying to reach that was since day one,’’ Navarro said. ‘‘I never could. Not even in batting practice.’’ That was all the support Los Angeles’ ace needed. The Dodgers committed three errors with some sloppy defense, getting bailed out by Kershaw each time. Navarro twice threw into center field trying to throw out a runner at second only to have Kershaw strand them at third in the first two innings. Second baseman Jamey Car- roll couldn’t corral a hard-hit ball by Brandon Belt in the fourth, and the Giants rookie hustled into second. Then Ker- shaw got Emmanuel Burriss to ground out and end the inning, and San Francisco never got closer. Javy Guerra pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save. NOTES: The Giants optioned C Hector Sanchez to Triple-A Fresno to make room for 2B Jeff Keppinger, who they acquired in a trade with Houston on Tuesday. Keppinger’s flight was delayed and he arrived late. He flied out to left in the seventh and stayed in to play second. ... Injured Giants C Buster Posey made an appearance in the clubhouse before the game. He was still pushing himself around in a makeshift scooter that supports his reconstructed left ankle. Tennis club has jolly ole’ time Sports 1B Kershaw beats Lincecum Thursday July 21, 2011 Courtesy photo Valley Oak Racquet Club hosted a Wimbledon Mixer July 16. Everyone wore white attire, played with wooden rackets and were served strawberries, cream and champagne. The winners were Vic Williams and Nancy Wagner (right). In second place were Mike Shaffer and Janay Twitchell (left). L.A. Dodgers 1 Giants 0