Peter Kennaugh loses the lead in the Criterium du Dauphine while Alex Dowsett has set his sights on regaining the hour-record taken by Bradley Wiggins. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Peter Kennaugh lost the yellow jersey at the Criterium du Dauphine after a BMC Racing victory in the team time-trial handed the overall lead to Rohan Dennis.
The 25-year-old was two seconds to the good after the first two stages but Dennis closed a 12 second gap to take the lead with his team the only squad to go below 30 minutes.
Kennaugh’s Team Sky went last and finished on 30:33.35 to leave the Briton 23-seconds behind in 19th place with Chris Froome 24th.
Alex Dowsett believes he has the tools to regain the hour-record that was taken from him by Sir Bradley Wiggins on Sunday.
Dowsett set a new record of 52.937km in May but saw that mark surpassed by the four-time Olympic champion as Wiggins racked up 54.526km at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark.
But Dowsett says he had more left in the tank when he set the record in Manchester and would like another crack at the whip in the future.
"We ran a very conservative race and I could have gone faster," said Dowsett.
"I would like to go back and see what I am capable of, whether that be next year or in eight years' time."
Great Britain’s men fell just short of reaching the podium at the European Fencing Championships in Switzerland after defeat to Germany.
The GB squad of James Davis, Richard Kruse, Laurence Halstead and Marcus Mepstead had defeated Hungary and high-fanced Italy en route to the semi-finals.
But after losing to Russia to miss out on the final, the chance of a bronze then slipped away with a 45-37 loss to the Germans.
Badminton England's chief executive Adrian Christy believes the country can become a hotbed of international talent after the success of the inaugural National Badminton League.
Team Derby were crowned champions at the K2 Crawley on Sunday bringing a close to the first season of the newly-formed league which includes shortened scoring, quick turnarounds and double-point ‘power-plays’.
And Christy is confident that, as the league continues to grow, the format is one that will attract the world’s best players to British shores.
"Nothing is decided, but if we are to maximise the investment into, and reach of, the NBL, we have to look at securing global appeal," he said.
“Therefore a key part of our thinking at the moment is exploring how the NBL can attract players not just from the UK and Europe but Asia as well.”
Kelly Sibley wants to fulfil her Olympic dream by sealing Rio qualification with victory at the inaugural European Games in Baku.
Sibley is confident that she can challenge the best players in Europe when she heads to Azerbaijan and knows anything can happen on game day.
“Obviously, you want to do as well as you can and to win that place at Rio is the dream,” she said.
“If I can get past the first few rounds and see what happens, I think I can challenge the best players in Europe. If I focus on what I need to do and play my best, anything can happen.”
Sprint canoeist Liam Heath insists he is fully focused on victory at the forthcoming European Games in Baku and wants to bring home the gold.
Heath and K2-200m sprint partner Jon Schofield have enjoyed a solid start to the season with World Cup bronze in Duisburg and gold in Copenhagen.
Next up is a trip to Azerbaijan for the European Games where they will look to maintain their solid form and hope it will translate into gold at the inaugural edition of the competition.
“We had a couple of really good weekends where we got positive results and it is always nice to come out with a couple of good performances,” he said.
“Of course it’s easy to look ahead to Rio and get distracted but I think it’s important to always be focused on what is in front of you and for us that is gold in Baku.”
© Sportsbeat 2015