Chris Froome says pressure is all on rivals ahead of stage ten of the Tour de France and British Sailing complete lineup for Olympic test event. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Tour de France leader Chris Froome says he is in better shape than he was when he was crowned champion two years ago.
The Briton leads the Tour by 12-seconds ahead of Tejay van Garderen after nine stages heading into the first mountain stage on Tuesday.
Froome won the 100th Tour in 2013 before crashing out last year but he has sent a warning to his competitors that they will need to step up their game if they want to take the yellow jersey.
“This year I feel as if I’ve come in much fresher, a lot more mentally prepared and I feel as if I’m getting stronger in this year’s race,” said Froome.
“Now it’s up to other teams to put the pressure on us. This is the heart of the race now.
“This is where all the action’s going to be happening, we’re going to see who has done their homework, who has got what in the mountains.
“This is where the real race in yellow truly starts.”
Newly-crowned Laser world champion Nick Thompson insists he can’t wait to get started for the Rio 2016 dry-run after being named in the completed line-up for the 2015 Olympic Test Event.
Thompson and RS: X European champion Bryony Shaw are the final Great Britain selections for the Aquece Rio International Regatta from August 15-22.
The event will be the second official test event for sailing, with a full Olympic-sized team of 15 british sailors set to compete across ten Olympic classes.
“As a team I think we’re doing a great job of really trying to treat this as an Olympics,” said Thompson.
“We’ll be spending a similar amount of time out there with a similar build up to it as if it were the Games. Obviously I haven’t been selected for the Games itself yet, but I think it’s a good idea to do a practice run as if it were the case.
James Ward has been rewarded for his efforts at this year’s Wimbledon after breaking into the top 100 for the first time.
The 28-year-old, who reached round three at SW19 this year, moves up to 89th – an improvement of 22 places.
He is the third highest Brit, with Andy Murray third and Alijaz Bedene 70th in the world rankings.
Men’s doubles losing finalist Jamie Murray moves up eight places to 20th while Heather Watson is 51st after also reaching the third round.
England ultimately lost in the final of the Exeter leg of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix 7s Series but captain James Rodwell claims the successful blending of youth and experience bodes well for the future.
Having swept aside all before them to reach the Cup final, Rodwell and co went down 14-5 to an in-form France side.
That victory meant Les Bleus completed a clean sweep of European series events having already been victorious in Moscow and Lyon.
After using the previous two events as a proving ground for some talented youngsters, England brought a number of senior heads back into the squad at Sandy Park and Rodwell is adamant the improvement throughout the weekend was tangible.
“We got better over the weekend – it’s difficult when you’re playing with someone for the first time but we did well,” said Rodwell.
© Sportsbeat 2015