Lizzie Armitstead claimed victory in her first race since becoming world champion while James Dasaolu claimed British Indoor Championship success in Sheffield. Here's our review of the last 24 hours:
Lizzie Armitstead believes going off-script paid dividends as she surged to a solo victory at the one-day classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium.
In her first competition since becoming road race world champion last September, Armitstead launched a decisive attack with 10km to go to win the event for the first time.
The 27-year-old had originally been part of a leading duo with Gracie Elvin of Orica-AIS after she lifted the pace in the peloton with 20 kilometres remaining, causing every other rider to fall away.
Armitstead is adamant that two-woman breakaway was an accidental by-product of raising the pace but after dropping Australian Elvin to forge clear for victory, the Brit claims she surprised even herself.
“That wasn't exactly the plan. I was out there way too long. Wow. I'm really happy,” said Armitstead.
"I wanted to break up the group and I ended up on my own. I don't know how it happened, really.
“It wasn't an attack. It was just messing around and people watching each other and not watching me, and so that was really cool."
In the men’s event Luke Rowe finished fourth as Greg van Avermaet claimed victory.
James Dasaolu immediately turned his attentions to medalling on the world stage after winning his third Indoor British Championships 60m title on day one in Sheffield.
The 28-year-old European 100m champion had to work hard to catch early leader Andrew Robertson, who enjoyed a sensational start out of the blocks in the men’s 60m.
But Dasaolu did exactly that and crossed in a season’s best 6.53 seconds to take the victory, and secure himself a seat on the plane to the World Indoor Championships in Portland, USA.
“I am so pleased, honestly, it was so tight I didn’t know if I had got it,” he said. “The win means so much to me after the season I had last year.
“I am happy to return to winning ways with a season’s best and cement my place in Portland.
“I’m feeling confident and will go in [to the World Indoor Championships] looking to pick up a medal. We have a good bunch of 60m runners and the goal will always be to win a medal now.”
Meanwhile, Asha Philip sped out of the blocks and hold off British 100m and 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith to take the win in the women’s 60m.
Elsewhere, a terrific run by Andrew Pozzi secured the 23-year-old victory in the men’s 60m hurdles – and a place on the Great Britain & NI World Indoor Championships team.
Lee Emanuel notched up his second indoor 3,000m title and a seat on the plane to Portland as he powered home to gold in a season’s best 7:55.61 minutes ahead of 5,000m British outdoor champion Tom Farrell.
Multi-eventer Morgan Lake improved on her second-place finish a year ago as she cleared 1.90m in her first attempt to take the win in the women’s high jump ahead of British outdoor record holder Isobel Pooley.
Victory in the men’s long jump went to defending champion Dan Bramble, who held on to his British title with a new personal best of 7.94m.
And Rachel Wallader broke the stadium record in the women’s shot put as she notched up her third indoor title with a second round throw of 17.23m.
Jade Lally produced the longest throw by a British woman since 1983 as she broke the English discus record for the second time in three days.
Competing in the New South Wales Championships in Sydney, Lally threw 65.10m to move up to fourth in the world rankings.
It also put her second all-time in the British rankings behind Scotland’s Margaret Ritchie, whose record stands at 67.48.
Lally, a Commonwealth bronze medallist in 2014, had previously broken the English record on Thursday in Auckland.
Bryony Shaw believes she's in the right position to claim another Olympic medal after her silver at the windsurfing World Championships in Israel. Shaw, ranked number one in the world, finished second at the event for the second time in succession as Poland’s Malgorzata Bialecka took gold. And her sights are now firmly set on a return to the Olympic podium in Rio, after winning bronze in Beijing eight years ago. “I feel like I can go into Rio with a good chance of medalling,” she said. “I can hang in there with the best of the light wind specialists but still know that if there’s a day of breeze or if it’s a day where it’s a little bit more about board speed then I can hang in with the fast girls as well.
“Whatever wind blows I can perform and that’s where I take my confidence from.”
Sir Ben Ainslie made a near perfect start to this year’s America’s Cup World Series campaign in Oman. The four-time Olympic champion’s day got off to a premature flyer when he was judged over the line in the opening race but he battled back to take a spot on the podium behind defending champions Team USA and New Zealand, beaten finalists in 2013. But with Team GB's Rio-bound Finn class world champion Giles Scott calling the shots as tactician and seemingly superior boat speed to their rivals, it soon got better for the British crew. Despite light winds they won the second and third races in commanding fashion to top the leaderboard with 28 points, just ahead of the American and Kiwi boats, heading into three more races on Sunday, all worth double points. “That wasn’t bad. We had a few issues in the first race after we got rammed by the French team but the guys did a really good job and we got it done,” said Ainslie. “We had good pace on the boat in this light air and we had to make some big tactical decisions and Giles did a really good job for us. “You’ve got to have good teamwork in these conditions and our crew work had to be absolutely perfect. “We’ve got the ball rolling now but the races count for more on Sunday. It’s important to have a good first day but it will all be on the line again.”
Dom Parsons signed off his skeleton World Cup season with a fifth-place finish in Koenigsse, Germany.
The 28-year-old produced his best World Cup finish of the season in the event which was won by overall champion Martins Dukurs.
As a result Parsons finishes the season in fifth in the World Cup standings after getting top ten finishes in six of the eight races.
The Pentathlon World Cup got underway in Cairo as British duo Sam Curry and Tom Toolis came home 28th and 33rd respectively.
Egypt’s Amro El Geziry claimed victory in the opening event and GB Performance Director Jan Bartu admits the British pair will have to regroup quickly ahead of the second World Cup event in Rio in a fortnight.
He said: “We will go home now and regroup as there is a short turnaround before we fly out for the second World Cup. We need to move on, get the training sessions in and, most importantly, mentally prepare for the next competition where we hope to see better performances. Making it to the final is very important and has been extremely valuable for both Sam and Tom in securing Olympic ranking points.”
Sportsbeat 2016