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| Henderson wins points competition • Andre Greipel clinches double for HTC-Columbia• Cavendish holds 12-point lead in Spanish TourTeam Sky's tactical decisions have been closely scrutinised this week, and today the British team ended the Tour of Britain with another near miss. Their sprinter Greg Henderson finished fourth in the closing circuit race around Docklands behind the German Andre Greipel, who clinched a double for HTC-Columbia, winners of the overall standings with their Swiss Michael Albasini, who had led the race since Monday's stage to Swansea. Henderson did, however, manage to snaffle 6sec of time bonuses during the stage's intermediate sprints to move up to third overall and win the points competition.With the pope on tour in central London, the British Tour had to find an alternative finish, and it ended up on the other side of the Royal Albert Dock from London City airport in the borough of Newham. The pontiff may have taken precedence in Westminster, but the airport suspended flights while the riders were in action, to enable the television helicopters to go about their business.The eight laps of a seven and a half-mile circuit included no fewer than 96 roundabouts, but produced a lively stage, with the day's most threatening escape a very British affair including Jeremy Hunt – another rider linked with Team Sky for next season – Matt Brammeier, a Liverpudlian who has taken Irish nationality, Peter Williams of the Motorpoint team, the Dutchman Wouter Sybrandy who rides for the Sigma Sport team and Tom Barras of Raleigh, whose father, Sid, is Sybrandy's directeur sportif.The quintet rode to a promising 30sec lead with two laps remaining to the finish, but as the bell was rung for the final lap, they were only a few yards ahead after a strong chase from Team Sky and Albasini's HTC-Columbia team. Williams and Brammeier persisted briefly but were swept up four kilometres out, with Sky massing at the front.The British team were swamped a couple of kilometres out, but Geraint Thomas reappeared in the final kilometre, before Greipel led the downhill charge to the finish line alongside the Docklands Light Railway to take his third stage win of the race, with Lucas Sebastián Haedo of Argentina in second and Roger Hammond of Great Britain in third.Today's events drew thousands of spectators to east London and the organisers of this week's national track championships in Manchester will hope for something similar. Many of Great Britain's Olympic stars will use the week to warm up for a winter track season which includes the Commonwealth Games and – for the first time – the European Championships in Poland in early November.Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are in action on Tuesday in the men's team sprint and women's 500m time trial, while on Thursday Pendleton will defend her women's sprint title for the ninth year running. Hoy defends his sprint title on Friday, while both the Olympic champions are in action in the keirin motorpaced race on Saturday, when Team Sky field a redoubtable quartet of Ben Swift, Ian Stannard, Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas in the men's team pursuit. The individual pursuit Olympic champion Rebecca Romero will ride the women's team event on Saturday in her first track appearance since Beijing.Meanwhile in Spain, Mark Cavendish will be favourite to win the points jersey in the Tour of Spain tomorrow, when the Vuelta winds up in Madrid. Cavendish holds a 12-point lead over the American Tyler Farrar, but will be fancied to take his fourth stage win of the Spanish Tour on the flat circuit in Madrid today. Today's stage in the Vuelta was a mountainous affair finishing at Bola del Mundo, north-west of Madrid, and was won by Spain's Ezequiel Mosquera with the Italian Vincenzo Nibali retaining the race leader's jersey.Tour of BritainTeam SkyCyclingWilliam Fotheringhamguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Stern advises Arenas to stay mum on gun conviction By JOSEPH WHITE 2010-09-23T22:47:59ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- Interested in hearing Gilbert Arenas describe the lessons he learned from serving time in a halfway house? Don't hold your breath.... hosted.ap.org |
ICC to brief players on anti-corruption code at 2011 Cricket World Cup • ICC anti-corruption warning follows England v Pakistan furores• 2011 Cricket World Cup in India, Bangladesh and Sri LankaPlayers and staff at next year's Cricket World Cup will be formally briefed on the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption code, the ICC has announced in what appears an attempt to avoid a repeat of the spot-fixing scandal that marred England's recent Test series against Pakistan.After a meeting of the World Cup's central organising committee (COC), the ICC's chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, said: "It is absolutely vital for our flagship event and the future prosperity of cricket that we maintain public confidence in the integrity of the game."Repeating the education and awareness to players and support staff will leave no room for doubt. We are committed to a zero-tolerance approach to corruption."The ICC also expressed its confidence that all facilities in the host countries of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be ready on time. India has suffered a series of problems trying to complete venues for the Commonwealth Games taking place in Delhi. But the ICC's president, Sharad Pawar, who is chair of the COC, said: "I can assure everyone who attends the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that they will be attending an exciting event staged in the most modern of cricket facilities."We have confirmed our deadline date for the completion of all stadia construction work to be 30 November 2010 and all playing facilities to be match-ready by 31 December 2010."All three host countries recognise that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 offers a unique opportunity to showcase their cricket and their country and all are committed to making this tournament a global success."Security in the subcontinent is another concern but Lorgat said: "I am satisfied with the overall progress made to date and, importantly, I am reassured to hear that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Security Directorate has all the safety and security plans in place for the event."Cricket world cup 2011Cricketguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
With Harangody, Jackson gone, can Notre Dame stay in Big East hunt? Hanging high over the floor at the Joyce Center, a banner sporting Luke Harangody's No. 44 is hard to miss. Harangody, one of the most prolific ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
NFL fines Andre Johnson, Cortland Finnegan $25,000 each The NFL fined Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson and Tennessee Titans CB Cortland Finnegan $25,000 each on Monday for their fight in Sunday's g ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |