LE LIORAN, France -- The expected battle between Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana at the Tour de France has been put on hold for at least a couple of days.The leading contenders had a relatively quiet day in the races first medium mountain stage Wednesday, content to let Greg van Avermaet complete a successful solo attack and take the overall leaders yellow jersey. The Belgian rider is not in contention to finish top of the general classification, or GC, when the race ends in Paris.For us its just about winning the GC and Chris was comfortable. It was not really a day for the big GC guys, said Geraint Thomas, Froomes top support rider at Sky. Obviously some guys lost a bit of time but for Froomey it was just about staying at the front, staying calm and not losing any time to anybody.Two-time winner Alberto Contador and 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali both lost time over the demanding route through the Massif Central.Contador finished 33 seconds behind the other overall favorites while Nibali -- who won the Giro dItalia in May -- lost more than eight minutes, putting an end to his chances of overall victory.Its just a handful of seconds here, Thomas said. You cant write Contador off. Obviously its a bonus, but we certainly dont take anything for granted.Still, its looking more and more like a battle between Froome, the defending and two-time champion from Britain, and two-time runner-up Quintana from Colombia.Van Avermaet was part of an early nine-man breakaway and he methodically whittled down the group before accelerating past fellow Belgian Thomas De Gendt with 17 kilometers (10 miles) to go on the penultimate climb of the day.The 31-year-old Van Avermaet also won a stage in last years Tour and is known as a specialist at single-day classics and short stage races, having won Paris-Tours in 2011 and the Tirreno-Adriatico this year.Its special for me. Its the best jersey in the world. Its my first time and perhaps the last so I will enjoy every moment, Van Avermaet said. Its the best moment of my career. Winning a stage is already quite something but this takes it to another level.The 216-kilometer (134-mile) fifth stage from Limoges to Le Lioran featured five climbs in a constant up-and-down finish, including the 1,589-meter (5,213-foot) Pas de Peyrol.It was the first time that the Tour reached above 1,500 meters this early in the race since the leg-breaking start to the 1979 edition, which began with three stages in the Pyrenees over the first four days.Nibali was dropped on the Peyrol along with world champion Peter Sagan, who was wearing the yellow jersey for a third day.Sagan still has the green points jersey but he fell to 76th overall, more than 23 minutes behind.I dont care about it. Cest la vie, Sagan said, using a French phrase that translates to Thats life.De Gendt finished second in the stage, 2:35 behind and Rafal Majka of Poland, the 2014 King of the Mountains, crossed third, 5:04 back.In the overall standings, Van Avermaet holds a lead of 5:11 over rising French rider Julian Alaphilippe, with Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde third, 5:13 behind.Froome is fifth, 5:17 behind, and Quintana is seventh with the same time.Contador, who fell twice in each of the opening two stages, is 25th, 6:38 back.I knew it would be hard, Contador said. The two crashes really hurt. Im still aching. Its not easy to recover. But Im hanging in there.Van Avermaet does not consider himself a threat for the overall title. He plans to support BMC captains Tejay van Garderen and Richie Porte in the Pyrenees and Alps.Its good to have good morale in the team and to take the pressure off, Van Avermaet said. The main goal for us is having Tejay or Richie on the podium in Paris.On a sunny and pleasant day with the temperature at about 20 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit), fans -- many of them wearing polka-dot King of the Mountains jerseys -- lined the road in large numbers leading up to the Le Lioran ski resort.The most important thing was not crashing, because the descents were tricky and the pavement was melting, Van Avermaet said. It was good to stay concentrated and enjoy the last kilometer. Its kind of strange because Im a sprinter and usually you cannot enjoy the finish so much.Stage 6 Thursday is a flatter 190.5-kilometer (118-mile) leg from Arpajon-sur-Cere to Montauban. The next mountain stages come this weekend in the Pyrenees, although the Tour may not be decided until the race reaches the Alps in the third week.---AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf Cheap Nike Basketball Shoes China . 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LOS ANGELES -- UCLA followed up its upset victory at then-No. 1 Kentucky in a big way.The second-ranked Bruins clamped down on defense in the second half to beat Michigan 102-84 on Saturday night in front of 13,571, the first sellout at Pauley Pavilion in nearly four years.T.J. Leaf scored 21 points, fellow freshman Lonzo Ball added 19 and UCLA (10-0) held the Wolverines to 34 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes after playing to a 50-all tie in the first half. While their defense improved, so did the Bruins offense. They shot 74 percent in the second half.We really got smacked in the mouth in the first half, Leaf said. In the second half we had a different mindset and established what we wanted to do out there instead of letting them do what they wanted.Both teams shot over 60 percent from the floor in the first half.Of the Wolverines 19 made baskets, 12 were 3-pointers. The Bruins made 10 3-pointers, with Ball making all four of his attempts. His last one from midway between the 3-point and half court lines pulled UCLA into a 50-all tie at halftime.Every shot I take I expect to make it, Ball said. I was in rhythm in the first half.Late in the half, the Wolverines outscored UCLA 15-2, including three 3-pointers, to take a 48-41 lead. The Bruins managed to tie it up on 3-pointers by Isaac Hamilton, Aaron Holiday and Ball.Theyre really good with five guys that can hurt you, Michigan coach John Beilein said. We probably wont see a team that has five guys that can attack and hurt you. In our league we may have three guys.Bryce Alford added 18 points and Aaron had 17 for the Bruins, who made 15 3-pointers, just off the school-record 18 they had in winning their season opener against Pacific. Holiday hit all five of his 3-point attempts.The Bruins topped 100 points for the fourth time this season.Were starting to put on a show for people and word of mouth is starting to spread, Alford said.Zak Irvin scored 18 points to lead the Wolverines (7-3). They were limited to just two 3-pointers in the second half.Were really good going into halftime knowing what we did wrong and making adjustments, and thats what we did, Alford said.Michigan got within five for the last time with just under eight minutes to go. UCLA went on a 17-6 run, getting 3-pointers from Holiday and Alford (two), to go up 94-78 and put the game away.We reaally executed, but we ran out of gas in the second half, forward D.dddddddddddd. Wilson said. We had some blow-byes and our defense just kind of gave up.The Wolverines were limited to three field goals over the final seven minutes.POLL IMPLICATIONSPlaying just once during finals week, the Bruins should stay at No. 2. They could have moved up to the top spot, but No. 1 Villanova rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat 23rd-ranked Notre Dame 74-