Team Sky name a stellar support cast for Chris Froome’s hat-trick attempt at the Tour de France; Johanna Konta beats two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in Eastbourne; Team GB taekwondo squad announced for Rio and Emma Pooley steps up preparation for potential Rio road race. Here is our round up of the last 24 hours in Olympic sport:
Chris Froome will defend his Tour de France title after being named in Team Sky's nine-man line-up for the 103rd edition of the race, which begins early next month.
The 21-stage marathon begins at Mont-Saint-Michel on Saturday, July 2, and concludes on Sunday, July 24, in Paris where Froome will be hoping to be wearing the yellow jersey for the third time in his career.
The 31-year-old first won the race in 2013 before repeating the trick 12 months ago, with only seven men in the history of cycling ever having won Le Tour on three occasions.
"The Tour de France will always be the pinnacle of our sport," said Froome. "Every rider obviously starts every new Tour equal and what has gone before counts for nothing. This year I am hungrier than ever for success
"I feel in good shape coming into the race this year and am fortunate to have a strong team around me - both on and off the bike.”
There are three other Brits in the Team Sky squad – Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard – in addition to five other riders with a slew of Grand Tour experience in the form of Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiriyenka, Mikel Landa, Mikel Nieve and Wout Poels.
British number one Johanna Konta beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova at the Aegon International in Eastbourne to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Konta, 24, dropped the first set having led 5-2, but stormed back to beat her Czech opponent 5-7 6-4 6-0 in a show of strength ahead of next week’s Wimbledon.
Konta will play one either Andrea Petkovic or Ekaterina Makarova in the next round at what is her home tournament.
"Both of us were playing at a really good level in parts and struggling to keep that up in others," said Konta. "I think I just managed to string a few points together today.
"There are not words big enough to describe the support the crowd have shown me. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.”
Elsewhere British number four Dan Evans lost in the third round of the Nottingham open to Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas and the Wimbledon seedings were announced with Andy Murray the second men’s seed with Konta seeded 17th in the women's draw.
Olympic champion Jade Jones has been named among four players representing Team GB in taekwondo at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Jones will be joined on the plane to Brazil by Bianca Walkden, London 2012 bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad and Mahama Cho.
The reigning champion will be defending her -57kg crown while Walkden makes her Olympic debut in the +67kg category.
Muhammad will hope to improve on his -80kg bronze from London while Cho competes in the +80kg event.
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Beijing silver medallist Emma Pooley has stepped up her Olympic preparations by re-signing with her former team, Belgian outfit Lotto-Soudal.
Pooley is bidding to earn a place on the plane to Rio after quitting road cycling following the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
She returned to the road in April though and has competed in the Tour de Yorkshire and last week’s Women’s Tour for the Great Britain Cycling Team.
Team GB's cycling squad has yet to be announced but she will continue her preparations for a possible supporting role to world champion Lizzie Armitstead, in Rio, by riding the Giro Rosa race, in Italy, next month.
First though, the 2008 Olympic time trial silver medalist will compete in the British championships in Stockton-on-Tees today.
“Just in time for the National Time Trial Championships: I’m delighted to announce that I’ve signed with the Lotto-Soudal Ladies’ Team for the second half of the 2016 season,” she said.
Sportsbeat 2016