Cyclist Mark Cavendish is ruled out for the rest of the season through injury although there is better news for Owain Doull who finishes fifth in the World Under-23 individual time trial. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Mark Cavendish admitted he was thinking of the future after opting to undergo surgery on his shoulder.
The 30-year-old has been ruled out for the rest of the season after visiting the surgeon for an injury he suffered on the sixth stage of the Tour of Britain earlier this month.
As well as pulling out of the rest of the race, Cavendish was also forced to miss this week’s World Road Race Championships, while he will now be absent from the Abu Dhabi Tour in October.
It is not the same shoulder which he injured at the 2014 Tour de France although Cavendish is facing up to another spell on the sidelines.
"It has been a very difficult decision," said Cavendish. "The surgery was necessary to avoid any problems in the near future.
"I tried to ride my bike a few days ago on the road, but I could not put any power out by pulling on the handlebars.
"There's nothing I can do now except take a period of rest, and then start with intensive rehab."
Owain Doull’s impressive recent form continued as he finished fifth in the men’s Under-23 individual time trial at the Road World Championships in Virginia, America.
Fresh from claiming a third place overall at the Tour of Britain earlier this month, the Briton posted a time of 37 minutes 46 seconds on the 30km course in Richmond.
That was 36 seconds down on winner Mads Wurtz Schmidt of Denmark while German duo Maximilian Schachmann and Lennard Kamna took silver and bronze by finishing 12 and 21 seconds back respectively.
And 22-year-old Welshman Doull, who is normally a track rider but races on the road for Sir Bradley Wiggins’ team, admitted he had been pleasantly surprised by his performances.
"I'm pretty pleased. I didn't do a great deal of preparation going into it because I was concentrating on the Tour of Britain and the world road race on Friday,” he said.
“I was hoping for maybe a top ten, so to get a top five, I'm pretty happy with that.
"I have never done a major European or world under-23 time trial championship before, so I was going into the unknown a bit and didn't know where I would stand. It bodes well for the future."
British number one Heather Watson suffered an early exit at the Korea Open after she lost to Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova.
Watson slipped up 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the opening round after struggling with her serve.
Last month she lost in the US Open first round for the fifth year running while she is now 59th in the world rankings, four places above British number two Johanna Konta who reached the fifth round in New York.
Elsewhere Britain’s male number two Aljaz Bedene was also reflecting on defeat after being knocked out of the Moselle Open by Gilles Muller.
The 26-year-old was beaten in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 at the indoor court event in Metz France, with the Luxembourger instead progressing to the second round.
© Sportsbeat 2015