CYCLING

Geraint Thomas has found it tough going at the Vuleta a Espana so far, but insists tomorrow is another day

In stage two at the weekend, the Welsh legend was sent to the tarmac in a fall before struggling to stay with the leaders’ pace in stage three to Andorra on Sunday.

“Today, I was legless, really,” said Thomas with his usual frankness.

“I felt okay in the day but then the last climb, I didn’t feel I had anything in there to really push.”

“I was on the back foot at the back, yo-yoing off it and it’s not the best place to be. So, it was a day to forget about.

“Obviously, it’s early on in the race, and there’s still about 16 hard days to come, so I won’t get too despondent, I’ve just got to keep on fighting.”

Heavy rain made for difficult conditions on Saturday and Thomas and three-time Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic both crashed before making their way back to the peloton.

Thomas is currently 23^rd – 47 seconds behind overall leader Remco Evenepoel.

 

ATHLETICS

Welsh sprint star Jeremiah Azu finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m relay behind the USA, Italy and Jamaica at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Azu joined Zharnel Hughes, Adam Gemili and Eugene Amo-Dadzie in just missing out on the medals.

Welsh marathon runner Natasha Cockram finished a valiant 30th on her GB bow in a global event for Britain as she battled her way past several rivals in the brutal Budapest heat.

 

PARA CANOEING

Welsh para star Laura Sugar admits she was unsure she would continue her dominance at the Para-canoe World Championships held in Duisburg, Germany.

But Sugar secured her third consecutive world title to continue her grip on the KL3 category where she was the clear favorite to win.

Exhibiting her strength, she triumphed in the final race with a remarkable time of 45.418 seconds, leaving France’s Nelia Barbosa trailing behind by a margin of one and a half seconds.

Sugar said: “It’s incredible, you plan to try and go as fast as you can but you don’t know what else everyone is going to do.

“I didn’t think about the title, I just wanted to come out here and show everyone what I’ve been doing in training.

“I was really nervous about the race today, the two-day wait between heats and finals was hard so I’m really happy to put that race together and get the result.

“Every year is a fresh slate, just because you’ve won before doesn’t mean you’re entitled to win again so for me, it’s about doing my best and going my fastest. So, I’m delighted that came with a world title

 

DARTS

Gerwyn Price thrashed Gian van Veen to win a second successive ProTour darts title in Germany.

The Iceman won 8-1 in the final to earn his fifth title of 2023.

Price said: “Gian is a great player. He missed a couple of chances, and I didn’t let him off in that game.

“My game wasn’t the best apart from a couple of games at the end. I was scoring well all day, missing loads of doubles but getting away with it.

“I would rather play really well, even if I lose sometimes. Scraping games doesn’t give you that much confidence, but winning is what matters.”