Mark Cavendish is back in the gold leader's jersey in Qatar while Great Britain's men's ice hockey team open up their Olympic qualification campaign with a win. Here's our review of the last 24 hours.
Mark Cavendish is on the verge of winning the Tour of Qatar for the second timeafter regaining the leader’s gold jersey heading into Friday’s final stage.
Cavendish had trailed Dimension Data team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen by 26 seconds in the overall standings heading into the penultimate stage,
But the Norwegian punctured 8km from the finish to drop to fifth overall as his countryman Alexander Kristoff of Katusha won the day.
Cavendish crossed the line in fifth spot but holds a two-second advantage over Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet heading into the final day.
But the Brit admits his happiness was tempered by disappointment for his team-mate after the mechanical incident.
“I’m not too worried about the gold jersey right now, I’m majorly disappointed for Edvald. He was in such a good position,” said Cavendish.
“The lads rode incredibly all day and controlled it. We didn’t need to control it but we did.
“But unfortunately Edvald punctured with less than 10k to go. BMC and Lotto-Jumbo went straight to the front full gas as soon as they heard on the radio, so there was no chance of Edvald coming back.”
Mark Richardson’s late goal ensured that Great Britain’s men’s ice hockey team started their bid to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics with a dramatic 6-5 victory over Netherlands.
With 55:48 minutes on the clock, defenceman Richardson netted the winner from his own rebound in the Group G pre-qualifiers clash in Cortina.
Great Britain have not qualified for the Olympics since 1948 and must top the group also containing Serbia and hosts Italy to progress to the final stage of qualifying in September.
They got off to the worst possible start on Thursday evening when Ronald Wurm gave Netherlands the lead but goals from Russ Cowley, David Phillips and Matthew Myers soon made it 3-1.
Two goals in 55 seconds from the Netherlands levelled proceedings and they equalised on two further occasions to cancel out efforts from Cowley and Colin Shields before Richardson’s winner.
And with GB’s second group game against Serbia set for Saturday afternoon, coach Pete Russell believes the win has silenced a few critics.
“I hear people say that GB struggle to score goals, but here we proved we can score and score at important times,” said Russell.
“I am not going to be disappointed with the outcome as the result was the important thing. “Yes, there are things we can work on and do better at, but getting that win is vital for us. We dug deep and we scored a lot of goals.
“We can now recharge of our batteries and get ready for our second game.”
World and European medallists Anthony Fowler and Qais Ashfaq will make their maiden World Series of Boxing appearances of the season in the British Lionhearts' clash with Mexico Guerreros.
The Mexican team will take on the Lionhearts at York Hall on Thursday February 18 in the hosts' first home match of the season.
And to mark the occasion they have named a strong line-up that includes 2013 World Championship bronze medallist and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Fowler, at middleweight; 2015 European Championship silver medallist Pat McCormack at light-welterweight and 2015 European Championship and 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ashfaq at bantamweight.
The experienced trio will be joined by World Series of Boxing debutant Galal Yafai at light-flyweight and heavyweight Lawrence Okolie, the latter boxing in front of his hometown crowd.
The Lionhearts will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season and build on away wins in the USA and Morocco against a Mexican team that will be trying to bounce back after losing its last match to the USA Knockouts.
British Cycling’s technical director Shane Sutton believes being able to call upon the expertise of David Millar will be invaluable for the country’s young riders.
Millar secured stage victories at all three of the Grand Tours during his days as a professional rider, was crowned 2010 Commonwealth time-trial champion and won silver for Great Britain at the UCI Time Trial World Championships in the same year.
Sutton told British Cycling’s website: “Having someone of David’s calibre on board to support us in this education process is invaluable; he is readily available to share his well-rounded experiences as a professional cyclist to the young riders who aspire to succeed in their careers.
“In addition to his mentor work, David brings with him a massive amount of training and tactical knowledge which will support the work of the coaches.
“He’s become a well-respected figure in cycling which will help us to open doors when it comes to fielding young talent into professional road teams.
“David will work with the squad on a voluntary basis until the end of the month with a view to subsequently joining the team in a more official capacity.”
World number one George Johnston has spoken of his pride in representing Team GB as he looks to win gold at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillerhammer, Norway.
The rising bobsleigh star from Taunton is one of 16 athletes who will be representing Team GB at the Games in Lillehammer, which starts today and runs until February 21.
This year will be the fourth Youth Olympics and the second Winter Games, where Team GB will have athletes competing in seven of the 15 disciplines.
“Wearing the Team GB kit is a great experience and it is one that I will not forget for the rest of my life,” said 17-year-old Johnston, who was selected as Team GB flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony.
“I have just been counting down the days. It means the world to me to represent Team GB and I am so happy that I have the opportunity to do it.”
Read more from Johnston and the GB squad here
British Under-18 overall champion Yasmin Cooper has already racked up many achievements on the slopes, but the alpine skier admits she will be fulfilling a lifelong dream when she pulls on the Team GB colours at the forthcoming Winter Youth Olympics which begin today.
A 16-strong Team GB squad will compete in seven of the 15 sport disciplines: bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey skills challenge, luge, skeleton, freestyle skiing and Cooper’s discipline of alpine skiing.
Action gets underway at Hafjell – host venue for the 1994 Winter Olympics – on Sunday with combined, giant slalom, slalom and Super-G races for both the boys and girls plus a mixed team parallel race.
“It’s amazing to have been selected and I’m really excited to be part of the Games and this is definitely the biggest thing I’ve ever achieved in my career so far,” said Cooper.
“I’ve dreamt of wearing the Olympic rings so being here in Lillehammer is a dream come true.
"My preparation has been good following some personal bests in slalom and giant slalom so I feel like I’m skiing well.”
Read more from Cooper and the other skiers here
Sportsbeat 2016