Latest - Local rider Tom Sexton has pulled on the first yellow jersey of the Tour of Southland.
Tom Sexton in the leader's yellow jersey Photo: James Jubb/Studio Jubb
Sexton has led home his team in the opening prologue team time trial in Invercargill to grab the leader's jersey.
His Business South team finished three seconds clear Transport Engineering Southland-Talley's, who include two-time defending champion Michael Vink.
"Our goal was to finish top five, but we managed to put together a really smooth performance," Sexton said.
"We've got some strong pursuiters in our team and we just rode it like a team pursuit."
Tom Sexton will now wear yellow on the opening 151km stage from Invercargill to Gore.
Wellingtonian wins Auckland Marathon
Daniel Jones (Wellington) has won the Auckland Marathon in convincing fashion, finishing more than four minutes clear of his nearest rival.
Daniel Jones celebrates winning the 2020 Auckland Marathon Photo: Finisher Pix/Auckland Marathon
Jones spent five months in Kenya this year and put his time at altitude to good use, crossing the line in 2hrs, 21.58mins.
Fabe Downs (Auckland) finished second in 2:26.34, with Hiro Tanimoto (Wellington/Japan) a further one a half minutes back in third.
Three-time defending New Zealand champion Alice Mason (Tauranga) has won the women's race in 2:43.33.
Cameron Graves (Auckland) has smashed the half marathon race record, winning the men's race in 1:05.24, while Olympian Camille Buscomb (Cambridge) has won the women's race in 1:13.46.
Jota rescues Liverpool
Diogo Jota grabbed the winner as Liverpool ground out a 2-1 victory over West Ham United at Anfield to take the lead at the top of the Premier League.
Photo: AFP
Defending champions Liverpool have 16 points from seven games, three points more than Everton who play at Newcastle United.
With the win, Liverpool have equalled their club record of 63 matches unbeaten at home in the league.
Manchester City beat Sheffield United 1-0 at Bramall Lane with Kyle Walker scoring against his boyhood club to extend the home side's winless start to the Premier League season to seven games.
Hakim Ziyech shined and Kurt Zouma and Timo Werner were also on target as Chelsea enjoyed an easy 3-0 win at struggling Burnley.
- Reuters
French cyclist wins Vuelta stage
Frenchman David Gaudu secured his maiden grand tour win when he claimed the 11th stage of the Vuelta, a 170-km mountain trek between Villaviciosa and the Alto de La Farrapona.
The 24-year-old beat breakaway companion Marc Soler of Spain with a late burst in the final ascent, a 16.5-km effort at an average gradient of 6.2 percent
Gaudu, who impressed in the 2019 Tour as Thibaut Pinot's lieutenant, has been promoted as Groupama-FDJ's sole leader after his team mate pulled out of the race early on, and while he is not a title contender yet, the Breton showed great composure to snatch the biggest win of his career.
The race favourites stayed quiet in the final ascent, reserving their energy for the 12th stage, which ends at the top of the feared Angliru - a 12.4-km ascent at 9.9 percent with the last seven kilometres averaging a gradient of 13 percent and featuring a section above 20 percent.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader's red jersey, tied on time with Ecuador's Richard Carapaz with Ireland's Dan Martin in third place, 25 seconds behind.
- Reuters
Bottas pips Hamilton in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix qualifying
Valtteri Bottas, still clinging on to the faint hope of stopping his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton from racing to a record-equalling seventh Formula One drivers world title, has won pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Finn Bottas beat Hamilton by just 0.097 seconds on Formula One's return to Imola, the track which claimed Ayrton Senna's life 26 years ago.
Bottas pulled out the stops to see off Hamilton with Red Bull's Max Verstappen third, while Australia's Daniel Ricciardo had an impressive qualifying campaign, finishing fifth in his Renault.
Hamilton had appeared on course to take the 98th pole of his career after improving with his final run, but Bottas went even quicker in a nail-biting session to take the spoils.
Hamilton heads into this round 77 points clear of Bottas and another triumph here will pave the way for the Englishman to equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven titles at the ensuing race in Turkey on November 15.
This marked Mercedes' 13th pole in as many rounds and they will secure their seventh constructors' championship here with four rounds remaining if they outscore Red Bull.
- Reuters
Lucky loser in Vienna tennis final
Italian lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego, who stunned world No.1 Novak Djokovic in straight sets, continued his dream Vienna Open campaign by storming into the final with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Briton Dan Evans.
In the final, Sonego will play Andrey Rublev, whose semi-final opponent Kevin Anderson retired with a leg injury in the second set. The Russian is just one win away from securing a Tour-leading fifth title in 2020.
Sonego, who lost his final qualifier last weekend but entered the main draw as a lucky loser, fired 25 winners in the 80-minute contest to advance to only his second ATP Tour final.
He took a quick 3-0 lead against Evans and held on to that advantage as he conceded just four points on serve in the opening set.
Evans needed treatment for a left shoulder problem after losing his serve in the first game of the second set and broke Sonego in the next game.
However, the Italian broke back immediately and later closed out the win as Evans netted a forehand on Sonego's first match point.
The 23-year-old Rublev, now eighth in the world, has yet to drop a set at the tournament and moved into the final when South African Anderson retired in the earlier semi while trailing 6-4 4-1.
- Reuters
