F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins Russia Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas has fond memories of Sochi, having earned his maiden Grand Prix victory at the venue last year. But the Mercedes driver was asked to play the team game allowing Lewis Hamilton to ultimately claim a victory and extend his championship lead yet further over Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton, who, after falling behind in the pit stops, was forced to pass Vettel on track en route to what was his third victory in Sochi. Behind the front three, Max Verstappen starred, climbing from 19th on the grid to fifth in just eight laps, which soon became the lead when the tyre strategies began to play out.

The Dutchman ended up leading the most laps of anyone, but ultimately came home fifth, behind the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen but ahead of his Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo. Unsurprisingly, Verstappen also picked up Driver of the Day honors with a huge majority. Sauber’s Charles Leclerc was another to shine, the future Ferrari driver finishing seventh ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, while the Force India pair of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez kept their noses clean this weekend to round off the top ten.

Mercedes - knowing a race win for Hamilton was crucial for both championship quests - allowed their reigning world champion to keep top spot, with Bottas - who had asked if the positions would be reversed - forced to settle for second on a track he has enjoyed much success at. Vettel came home where he started, and he now trails the Brit by 50 points with just five races of the season remaining.

Aragon MotoGP 2018: Marc Marquez extends his lead

Marc Marquez rode a master class race at MotoGP Grand Prix of Aragon, which helped him retain his place at the top of the 2018 championship standings. The Spaniard was able to beat the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso who followed closely in second place, and the Suzuki of Andrea Iannone who delivered a spectacular third place finish.

The race got off to a dramatic start as the series' top three riders blasted out of their grid spots, but ultimately only two of them would make it past the first corner. After diving too deep into Turn 1, Marquez and his archenemy Jorge Lorenzo went wide and handed over the lead to the Dovizioso. While Marquez was able to turn his Repsol Honda around and emerge from the run-off unscathed, Lorenzo high-sided, while attempting to rejoin the racing surface and crashed in dramatic fashion.

With Marquez out of the picture and Dovizioso at the lead, it was Iannone and teammate Alex Rins who bolted to the front along with Honda's Dani Pedrosa, Aprilia's Aleix Expargaro, and LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow. The battle for the top five positions was a heated one throughout the race, and a charging Marquez only made things even hotter. Crutchlow eventually crashed out, but it was Marquez who held a tight grip on the TV cameras as he did everything he could to get back to the front and lead around his beloved MotorLand Aragon circuit.

Marquez continues to dominate the championship with 246 points, with Dovizioso in second place with 174 and Valentino Rossi in third with 159. The MotoGP fraternity now heads to the Chang International Circuit for the Thailand Grand Prix on Oct. 7.

Caribbean Premier League 2018

New Zealand’s Colin Munro smashed an unbeaten 39-ball 68 as defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders thrashed Guyana Amazon Warriors by eight wickets to lift Caribbean Premier League 2018 title for the third time.

Opting to field, Knight Riders restricted Guyana Amazon Warriors to 147 for 9, with Khary Pierre claiming 3 for 29 and Captain Dwayne Bravo picking up two wickets. In reply, Knight Riders chased down the target in just 17.3 overs, thanks to brilliant batting performances from Brendon McCullum (39) and Munro (68).

For Guyana Amazon Warriors, Luke Ronchi scored 44 off 35 balls. Chasing 148 to win, Ramdin played the anchor even as McCullum pulled out the big shots. The two added 52 for the first wicket before McCullum skied Chris Green for Delport to take the catch in the seventh over - the former New Zealand captain hit 39 in 24 balls.

Pierre was adjudged Player of the Match for his brilliant bowling figures of 3/29. Munro was earlier named in the CPL tournament team, alongside Phillips who had a big few weeks for Jamaica Tallawahs. Phillips scored 457 runs from 11 innings at a strike rate of 147 to push a strong case for one of the two available spots for the Black Caps T20 squad to face Pakistan.

F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins Singapore Grand Prix

For two races in a row, Lewis Hamilton has won Grand Prix that he arguably shouldn’t have. After stealing the Italian Grand Prix from under Ferrari noses, Hamilton produced another dominant display in Singapore, seeing off the challenge of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to increase his lead in the title race over arch rival Sebastian Vettel, who could only finish third.

With Ferrari calling him in for fresh rubber on lap 14, he was unable to make the undercut on Hamilton work, ending up behind Verstappen after the first round of pit stops. From then on, Vettel was in damage limitation mode, as he was forced to watch on as his 2018 championship hopes took a further hit. As the chequered flag fell on Hamilton’s 69th career win, the British driver earned himself 25 points to Vettel’s 15, the gap between them in the drivers’ standings now up to a full 40 points.

Behind the podium finishers, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas just managed to hold off his fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen for fourth place as Daniel Ricciardo, who’d come away from qualifying puzzled at his lack of pace, could only manage sixth. Further down the order, it was a great day for McLaren, as Fernando Alonso used his free choice of tyres resulting from qualifying 11th to end up seventh and ‘best of the rest’ in the race, ahead of the Renault of Carlos Sainz, while Charles Leclerc put in yet another impressive 2018 race performance, the newly-minted Ferrari driver ending up P9.

The second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten, but ultimately, once again they day belonged to Mercedes and Hamilton who once again triumphed on a track that was not expected to suit the W09.

Novak Djokovic wins third US Open

Novak Djokovic clinched his third US open title with a 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 triumph over Juan Martin Del Potro, taking him level with Pete Sampras mark of 14 Grand Slams.

Djokovic, playing in this eighth final in New York and already the champion in 2011 and 2015 is now just three slams behind Rafael Nadal and six back from the record 20 held by Roger Federer. It was also the third time the 31 year old Serbian who missed last year’s tournament with an elbow injury which sent his career into a mini-crisis completed the Wimbledon US open double.

For world number three Del Potro, it was a heartbreaking experience coming in just his second Slam final, nine years after he was crowned US Open champion. It was Djokovic 15th win over the Argentine and fifth in five at the Slams. Victory also means that 50 of the last 55 majors have been win by the 'Big Four' of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Del Potro was looking at having to become the first man since Pancho Gonales in 1949 to win the US title from two sets down. Djokovic sprinted into a 3-1 lead in the third set before a battling Del Potro clung on, hitting back for 3-3. But off the back of a 24-shot rally, Djokovic broke again for 5-3 and he was within tantalizing touching distance of his 14th Grand Slam title, just three months after he had left Roland Garros in despair after a shattering quarter-final exit.

Misano MotoGP 2018: Dovizioso beats Marquez

Andrea Dovizioso scored a straightforward third win of the MotoGP season at Misano ahead of Marc Marquez, as Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of second place. Dovizioso scored Ducati's third successive race win - the first time the Italian marque has taken a hat-trick since 2008 - after scything his way from fourth on the grid in the opening laps and then setting a pace his adversaries couldn't match.

Lorenzo and Marquez managed to close the gap in the latter stages until the former slid out at the Turn 8 left-hander on the penultimate lap, which left Dovizioso with a clear run to victory. Poleman Lorenzo hung onto the lead in the opening sequence of corners ahead of fellow front-row starter Jack Miller, as Marquez jumped to third ahead of Dovizioso.

But by the end of the lap Dovizioso had cleared both Marquez and Miller to move into second, and on the sixth lap of 27 he eased past Lorenzo on the run down to the Turn 8 left-hander to assume command. By that time, Pramac Ducati man Miller had crashed out of what had become fourth, leaving the leading trio with a significant gap over the rest. Dovizioso lead was hovering at less than a second until he set a new fastest lap on lap nine and five laps later his advantage had grown to nearly two seconds.

Marquez and Lorenzo, engaged in a thrilling scrap over second, edged back towards Dovizioso in the final five laps but the Italian was able to stabilize his gap and finally take the chequered flag by 2.8s after Lorenzo's crash. Behind Marquez, LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow - who ran a lonely fourth for most of the race - was promoted to the final podium spot, a further 4s down on Marquez, followed by Suzuki man Alex Rins. Yamaha's Maverick Vinales failed to make the most of his front-row starting spot, slipping to fifth on the opening lap and ultimately ending up in the same position.

Teammate Valentino Rossi had a similarly indifferent run to seventh behind the second works Honda of Dani Pedrosa. Andrea Iannone (Suzuki), Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati) and Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha) completed the top 10.

F1 2018: Sebastian Vettel wins Belgium Grand Prix

After being defeated in consecutive races going into F1’s annual summer break, Ferrari hit back in style as the season roared back into life in Belgium, with Sebastian Vettel brilliantly overhauling title rival Lewis Hamilton before leading the Mercedes driver home to eat his points advantage.

Vettel decisively claimed the lead on what was a chaotic first lap of the Grand Prix, in which a late - braking Nico Hulkenberg triggered an enormous crash at Turn 1 involving Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, also picked up what would ultimately prove race-ending damage in a separate incident.

Meanwhile Max Verstappen delighted the hordes of Dutch fans who’d crossed the border to watch their hero race by claiming a surprise third place – very much a welcome result, given Red Bull’s struggles for pace around the Spa track throughout the weekend. The man on the move throughout the Spa race was Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn making his way up from P17 at the start of the race – having taken engine penalties for a new Mercedes power unit – to P4 by the end of the race with a string of incisive passes.

Others to have a happy day at Spa were Haas, who overcame their pace issues from Friday and Saturday’s practice sessions to claim a double points finish, with Grosjean in seventh and Magnussen in eighth. Elsewhere, Pierre Gasly will have been chuffed with ninth, while in Leclerc’s absence, Marcus Ericsson held up his end of the bargain for Sauber; bring the C37 10th after a solid afternoon. Stoffel Vandoorne, meanwhile, heads away from his home race with the ignominy of having been last in every single session of the weekend, having finished 15th out of 15 classified runners.

Atletico Madrid won UEFA Super Cup 2018

Atletico Madrid finally got the better of Real Madrid on the European stage, scoring twice in extra time to win 4-2 in the UEFA Super Cup final in its rival game without Cristiano Ronaldo.

Atletico got off to a flying start with Diego Costa scoring the competition's fastest goal just 50 seconds in, but Madrid came back to take a 2-1 lead as Los Blancos tried to prove they can still win trophies without Ronaldo and with a new coach. But Costa equalized late in the match with his second goal before Saul Niguez and Jorge "Koke" resurrection sealed the victory in extra time on a cool night in Estonia's capital.

Atletico victory was over its crosstown rival had added significance after they lost two Champions League finals to Madrid in 2014 and 2016. Diego Simeone team was also eliminated by Madrid in the 2017 semi-finals. The loss leaves new Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui still having to prove that there is life after Ronaldo, who scored 450 goals in 438 matches before joining Juventus this summer and helped lead the club to three straight Champions League titles.

Gareth Bale showed glimpses of his pace and skill, but couldn't mimic Ronaldo's ability to decide a game on his own. Instead, Costa was the one who dominated at the Lillekula Stadium in Tallinn. He overpowered Madrid's centre-backs in the first minute after a long ball from Stefan Savic, first winning a header against Sergio Ramos and then muscling past Raphael Varane to cut into the area where he beat goalkeeper Keylor Navas at the near post.

Karim Benzema equalized in the 27th minute, heading in a pinpoint cross from Bale, who was able to break away from Lucas Hernandez on the right and curl the ball into his fellow forward's path. Sergio Ramos scored a penalty in the 63rd minute after Juanfran Torres handled in the area as the ball flew over him from a corner.

Austria MotoGP 2018: Jorge Lorenzo overcomes Marc Marquez to win

Jorge Lorenzo continued to pull himself back into the MotoGP title race after overcoming Marc Marquez to win the 2018 Grand Prix of Austria and hand Ducati victory for the third successive year at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

Marquez failed to convert pole into victory for the first time this season but nevertheless extended his lead at the summit of the riders' standings and now holds a 59-point cushion over Valentino Rossi, who came sixth. Lorenzo finished second at the Czech Grand Prix and took his third win of the campaign in Austria, depriving Marquez of the chance to complete his set of MotoGP victories.

Lorenzo had two wins to his name in 2018 coming into this race, and the veteran didn't attempt to hide his happiness after adding a third to his collection. The Red Bull Ring only returned to the MotoGP calendar in 2016, since which Italians Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso, both of Ducati at their points of victory, had accounted for both wins.

Honda had another impressive display from Cal Crutchlow, who held his spot in fourth but was a long way from breaking the top three, where Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Marquez sprang acres ahead of their competition. Ducati's Danilo Petrucci was another not far from breaking that hierarchy, though he could only finish fifth. Further down the ranks was Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales, who finished sixth and 12th, respectively, and never looked capable of challenging at the climax of a disastrous week in Austria.

Czech MotoGP 2018: Andrea Dovizioso wins at Brno

Andrea Dovizioso withstood a three-bike scrap to claim victory in a thrilling Czech Republic Grand Prix. Dovizioso fought off teammate Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez to win in his 100th race for Ducati, his first victory since the season-opener in Qatar five months ago.

Valentino Rossi pipped Cal Crutchlow for fourth place, with Danilo Petrucci, Johann Zarco, Dani Pedrosa, Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Iannone completing the top 10. Jack Miller worked his way up to 12th place at the finish, his healthy race pace unable to overcome a lowly grid position after crashing at a crucial phase of qualifying.

Rossi took a rare holeshot to lead the field into Turn 1 before the pole-winning Ducati blasted back past a few corners later. The field had already been trimmed by three by that point. A crash at the back into Turn 3 ended Maverick Vinales’ tough weekend, with Stefan Bradl and Bradley Smith also in the gravel. The latter’s crash ended a dismal day for KTM, who’d already lost Pol Espargaro to a broken collarbone after a crash in the warm-up.

Marquez extended his lead despite finishing third, his margin at the top of the standings now 49 points over Rossi, with Dovizioso now third a further 19 points adrift. The championship heads to the Red Bull Ring next weekend for the Grand Prix of Austria.

Netherlands won Women Hockey World Cup 2018

Netherlands have been crowned Hockey World Cup winners for a record eighth time after a crushing 6-0 win ended Ireland’s fairy tale tournament. Four goals in a seven minute spell around the half-time break earned the Dutch an emphatic victory.

Ireland had won new fans on their unlikely road to the final but found no answer to their opponents' intensity. Despite the defeat, Ireland is expected to climb up to 10th in the world rankings for the first time. Lidewij Welten, Kelly Jonker, Kitty van Male, Malou Pheninckx, Marloes Keetels and Caia van Maasakker all scored for the Dutch, who have extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 32 matches.

The top four goal scorers in the tournament all came from Alyson Annan's squad, with van Male topping the order with an incredible eight goals for the defending champions. The only other World Cup meeting between these two teams took place in the group stages of the 2002 tournament when the Dutch crushed Ireland 6-0 on their way to the final.

The period before and after the interval firmly settled the contest and ended any chance Ireland had of getting back into the game, as the Netherlands continued their rampant form to clinically seal the gold medal. Ireland kept the Dutch scoreless in the final quarter and could have snatched a consolation at the other end as they once again showed their grit and work-ethic, giving everything right up until the final whistle.

Geraint Thomas wins Tour de France 2018

Pausing at times along the way for a swig of Champagne, Geraint Thomas rode triumphantly, completing the final stage of the Tour de France and becoming the first Welshman to win the famed race. After years of being a supportive teammate to other Team Sky riders, like four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome, Thomas’s turn to win his first Tour de France arrived at the age of 32.

Thomas and the peloton completed the arduous, three-week race with a largely ceremonial 72-mile ride on the Champs Elysees. Thomas beat Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands by 1:51. Thomas’s Team Sky teammate, Froome, was third, 2:24 behind Thomas, who joins Froome (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) and Bradley Wiggins (2012) as the only British men to win the race. Six of the last seven Tours have been won by British riders.

Thomas has been known for grit and determination that surpasses what is the norm for cyclists. He rode in the 2013 Tour with a broken pelvis, saying it was “the worst pain I’ve ever experienced on a bike.” In 2005, he suffered a ruptured spleen when he was struck by a piece of metal during a ride in Australia. He has never finished better than 15th in a grand tour, partly because he has usually played a supportive role to his teammates.

Peter Sagan won the Green Jersey, the sprinter Jersey with 477 points. Julian Alaphilippe won the White with Red Polka dots Jersey, King of the mountains Jersey. Pierre Roger Latour won the White Jersey, the fastest overall rider under the age of 25. Best team Jersey was awarded to Movistar Team. Daniel Martin from UAE Team Emirates won the Super Combative Jersey.

F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins Hungary Grand Prix

Even as he was recording his 77th pole position, there were few who thought that the British driver would maintain that position 24 hours later. But a nerve display from Ferrari allowed Hamilton to fairly cruise to his 67th win, sharing the podium with chief rival Sebastian Vettel and team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

It had looked set to be a Mercedes one-two with six laps left to go. But Vettel used DRS to sweep past Valtteri Bottas into Turn 1. When the Finn tried to fight back into Turn 2, he locked up and clipped Vettel. The German continued, pulling Raikkonen through with him, as Bottas dropped to fourth with a damaged front wing.

Three laps later, Bottas hit Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull as the Australian tried to make a move into Turn 1 to mark a messy end of the race for the Finn, who ended up in fifth – a position he retained even with the 10-second time penalty he received post-race for his role in the incident. Ricciardo, on the other hand, will have been delighted to finish fourth, having started the race down in P12.

Pierre Gasly drove a great Grand Prix to finish in sixth for Toro Rosso, comfortably leading home Kevin Magnussen in the Haas, while Fernando Alonso gave McLaren something to smile about, coming home P8. The Renault of Carlos Sainz and the Haas of Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10. Up at the front though, it was Hamilton who claimed his sixth Hungarian Grand Prix victory, which puts the Hungaroring joint with Montreal’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve as the British driver’s top hunting ground on the F1 calendar.

F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins German Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has achieved many things in his career, but prior to race the Ferrari driver had never won nor led more than a handful of laps at Hockenheim - a venue only a handful of miles from where he grew up.

Hamilton, who had never previously won from outside the top six on the grid, led home team mate Valtteri Bottas to give the Silver Arrows their first ever one-two on home soil. In doing so Hamilton also equaled Michael Schumacher’s record of four German GP wins, as the seven-time world champion’s former team Ferrari had to make do with third place for Kimi Raikkonen.

Behind Vettel and Bottas are Kimi Raikkonen, the former’s teammate at Ferrari, and Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Verstappen’s teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, knew going into qualifying that he was going to be at the back of the grid due to a power unit replacement on his car.

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean of the American-owned Haas F1 team qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, ahead of both Renault cards. The Sauber of Charles Leclerc once again made it into the third qualifying session, and will line up ninth alongside Sergio Perez and his Force India to round out the Top 10. With it an eight-point deficit to Vettel in the championship was converted into a 17-point advantage, while Ferrari’s misery was completed as Mercedes reclaimed the lead in the constructors’ race by eight points.

German MotoGP 2018: Marc Marquez wins 9th straight race

Marc Marquez has re-written another piece of history, storming the Sachsenring from a ninth pole in a row to take his ninth win in a row across all classes. Valentino Rossi took second and maintains his second place in the standings after an impressive bounce back with the podium completed by teammate Maverick Vinales.

At lights out it was Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) who got the holeshot from pole, moving from third into the lead as Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) slotted into second – with Marquez shuffled back into third. Rossi made a good start from sixth to move into fourth ahead of teammate Vinales, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) the key man to lose out from fifth.

Petrucci top Independent Team rider in a well-fought fourth, just ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team)’s stunning ride to fifth. Bautista was the fastest man on track for a good number of laps and kept that incredible form to the end, the final man able to muscle past Lorenzo by the flag.

Lorenzo took P6 ahead of a tough day for teammate Andrea Dovizioso, with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) putting in a solid ride to eighth. Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) improved from his worst qualifying of the season so far to take ninth despite the difficult weekend, with an incredible ride from Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) putting the Brit in tenth to take KTM’s first top ten of the season.

Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was top rookie in eleventh and takes over at the top of the Rookie of the Year standings, ahead of Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who was caught in an early incident that saw Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) make contact with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and both go down; also affecting Iannone and Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing. Miller finished P14, with Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) between him and Iannone. Scott Redding (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) completed the points.

Novak Djokovic wins 4th Wimbledon Title

It took Novak Djokovic five minutes to break Kevin Anderson serve but he could not break his admirable resistance over two hours and 19 minutes in a Wimbledon final memorable only for the South African dogged but doomed fight back.

Anderson, troubled early in the match by a sore right elbow, was forced to endure one of the most grueling afternoons of his career but Djokovic suffered too, swearing at the crowd as his frustrations consumed him before he secured his 13th grand slam title, his fourth here, winning 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Shattered after surviving six hours and 35 minutes against John Isner in the first semi-final on Friday, Anderson – the 2017 US Open runner-up – refused to surrender in his second major final and dug deep to make a fight of it in the third set, although it was still a poor spectacle. The longest rally of the match lasted 15 shots, as Anderson strove to hold serve at 0-2 in the second set. There were the usual sympathetic cheers when he managed it, but pointlessness and inevitability hung heavily in the suffocating air.

Of the 950 points he had served for in the championships, Anderson, a serving behemoth and decent athlete, chose to remain on the baseline for 920 of them. That is either unshakable faith in his ability to hit opponents off the court, tactical ineptitude, exhaustion, or a combination of all three. Not once in the first hour of this match did he come in behind his serve. Neither did Djokovic – but he have no need to; he won through with patience rather than inspiration.

F1 2018: Sebastian Vettel wins British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a record sixth British Grand Prix looked to be in tatters after Kimi Raikkonen pitched him into a spin at the start. The Mercedes driver recovered to second in spectacular fashion but it was title rival Sebastian Vettel who took the ultimate spoils with a superbly measured performance.

Mercedes gave themselves a chance of snatching back the win by leaving Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas out when the Safety Car was called into action late in the race, while Ferrari and Red Bull pitted for fresh tyres. And for a few laps, it looked like it may work as Bottas held off Vettel, with Hamilton to third. But ultimately, Vettel had too much pace on the softer tyres and after eyeing his prey for a few laps, brilliantly snatched the lead from Bottas. Hamilton also moved past the Finn, but he didn’t have the performance to attack Vettel and had to settle for second with Raikkonen third.

It was Vettel’s 51st victory, moving him level with four-time world champion Alain Prost in third in the all-time list. The German extends his championship lead over Hamilton to eight points heading to his home race at Hockenheim. It’s the first time it’s been more than a point ahead since the Chinese Grand Prix.

Raikkonen made short work of the Mercedes for the final podium place, with Bottas managing to hold onto fourth. Daniel Ricciardo was fifth, with Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen on course to beat him, only to be told to retire the car with a suspected gearbox issue, the Dutchman having moments earlier spun at the penultimate corner. Nico Hulkenberg was sixth, ahead of Esteban Ocon with Fernando Alonso making into the points for the second successive race and Pierre Gasly completing the top 10 and scoring points for the third time this year - albeit under investigation for a late-race clash with Sergio Perez.

Dutch MotoGP 2018: Marc Marquez wins to extend Championship lead

Marc Marquez won the most nail biting race of the 2018 season in front of a packed housed at Assen. The Repsol Honda rider started the race on pole, but it was Jorge Lorenzo, who stole the limelight. The Ducati rider made a lightning start, which catapulted him from tenth to second place as the riders made their way through the first corner. Valentino Rossi, who had been pushed back to fifth place at the start of the race, was showing good pace as he carved his way past the grid in fifth place and in the second lap of the race, took second place from Marquez.

Despite having a clear track in front, Lorenzo wasn’t able to break away from the grid as he normally does. Rossi was close on Lorenzo’s rear, putting the Spanish rider under tremendous pressure. The front tyre of Lorenzo’s bike washed out, but the Ducati rider somehow saved himself from crashing out. While Lorenzo still led the race, Rossi lost momentum in the incident and was pushed down to fifth place.

Suzuki rider, Alex Rins was on the charge and he muscled his way past Marquez and was trailing the Ducati duo of Lorenzo and Dovizioso by the halfway stage of the race. With 12 laps remaining in the race, Dovizioso overtook his teammate to lead the race. In the following two laps, Marquez regained his position and it looked like a three-way battle for the race win.

The only rider who could come close to Marquez’s pace was Rossi, but he ran wide off the track in an attempt to defend second position from Dovizioso. Rins managed to pass Vinales in the last lap, to clinch his best result in premiere class. It was Marquez’s ninth podium finish at the Dutch circuit and he now extends his championship lead over Rossi by 41 points. The next race is at Sachsenring, which is one of Marquez’s favourite racetracks, and he looks on course to extend his winning run in Germany.

F1 2018: Max Verstappen wins Austria Grand Prix

Mercedes looked like they had the Austrian Grand Prix sewn up. But disaster struck in spectacular fashion as Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton both retired. Max Verstappen took advantage and seized his first win of the season, to the delight of the swathes of Dutch fans that had made the pilgrimage to the Red Bull Ring.

Hamilton’s record 33-races-in-the-points streak came to a shuddering stop while he also relinquished the lead of the championship, with Sebastian Vettel - who finished third behind Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen - overturning a 14-point deficit to lead by a single point. Verstappen took advantage of Mercedes’ misfortune to take a fourth career victory, the Red Bull driver inheriting the lead, having previously put a good early move on Raikkonen, and then managing his tyres beautifully as several of his rivals struggled with blistering.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo had pitted, too, as his soft tyres started to blister in what were the warmest conditions of the weekend. Hamilton was struggling, too, and Vettel pounced to take third. After complaining about his tyres for several laps, Mercedes pitted the world champion for a second time and fitted the supersofts. He rejoined in fifth, behind Ricciardo. But that became fourth when Ricciardo pulled off the track, saying on team radio that he had lost gear sync.

That promoted Romain Grosjean to a brilliant fourth; the best ever result for Haas, one place ahead of team mate Kevin Magnussen, with Verstappen comfortably leading the Ferrari duo of Raikkonen and Vettel up front. Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were sixth and seventh respectively, with Fernando Alonso charging from a pit-lane start to an impressive eighth. Charles Leclerc lost a bunch of time when he ran into the gravel at the start but recovered to take ninth – his fourth points finish in five races – with Sauber team mate Marcus Ericsson taking 10th in what is only his second time in the points in 2018.

F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins French Grand Prix

Mercedes brought their delayed engine upgrade to France, complete with “added goodness” and Lewis Hamilton took full advantage converting pole position into a commanding victory in the returning French Grand Prix as his chief title rival Sebastian Vettel made life hard for himself.

Hamilton was back to his brilliant best in qualifying and proceeded to dominate the race, crossing the line seven seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium. With Vettel finishing down in fifth, Hamilton convincingly reclaimed the lead in the drivers’ standings.

Ricciardo took fourth, well clear of Vettel, while Sainz was set for a brilliant sixth before suffering a power problem with three laps to go. Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Bottas slipped by but Sainz held on to eighth, ahead of Renault team mate Nico Hulkenberg. Charles Leclerc rose as high as sixth at the start and though his challenge faded, he drove brilliantly to take 10th for Sauber – his fourth points finish in five races. Romain Grosjean was the best-placed home driver, finishing just outside the points for Haas in 11th, the Frenchman having picked up a five-second time penalty for contact with compatriot Ocon on the run to Turn 1 at the start.

Force India's Sergio Perez retired with an engine problem, while Williams' Lance Stroll’s front-left tyre failed with a couple of laps remaining, spraying debris across the track and sparking a virtual safety car that ended with just half a lap to go. It was win number three of 2018 for Hamilton, who now leads the championship by 14 points from Vettel, while Mercedes’ advantage over Ferrari in the constructors’ standings swelled by four points to 23 with 13 races still remaining.

Catalan MotoGP 2018: Lorenzo hammers down his opponents

Jorge Lorenzo managed to convert his pole position into a win at the 2018 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix. The Spaniard took his second consecutive of the season after a brilliant victory in Mugello and beat Honda’s Marc Marquez with a lead of 4.79s.

Finishing a brilliant third was Valentino Rossi taking his consecutive podium of the season after starting seventh on the grid. The Catalan GP went down with a massive number of crashes and subsequent retirements that wiped out a good chunk of the competition. The Catalan GP marks Lorenzo's 150th podium finish, which puts in an exclusive of riders comprising Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Dani Pedrosa.

Barring the opening lap that was led by Marquez, Lorenzo dominated every lap of the Catalan GP, cruising his way to victory. Lorenzo had dropped behind Andrea Iannone to third in the opening lap, but managed to pass the Suzuki on Turn 10. The Ducati rider then charged towards Marquez and used the slipstream and outright acceleration to overtake the Honda and into the lead. Lorenzo was expected to break away from the rest of the field soon, but Marquez was on his tail throughout the remaining 23 lap race.

With the Catalan GP, Marquez has once again consolidated his lead in the championship, while Rossi now stands second with 88 points, to 27 points adrift from the Honda rider. Vinales now sits third with a gap of 9 points over his teammate, and is ahead of Johann Zarco who sits in fourth. Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Iannone are tied up on points with 66 each. While the win must be for Ducati this season, the 1-2 finish would've surely pleased Honda as well, in anticipation of what the team can expect next season from Marquez and Lorenzo.

F1 2018: Sebastian Vettel wins Canada Grand Prix

Ferrari hadn’t won in Montreal since 2004, while Lewis Hamilton has made circuit Gilles-Villeneuve his own during his F1 career. But Sebastian Vettel ripped up the form book with a dominant victory in the Canadian Grand Prix to snatch the lead in the 2018 driver standings.

The German was mighty in qualifying on Saturday and didn’t put a foot wrong come race day, crossing the line 5.7 seconds clear of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen completing the podium, followed home by team mate Daniel Ricciardo and the second Mercedes of Hamilton. 

Hamilton attacked Ricciardo until the chequered flag, but he didn’t deal with traffic as well as Ricciardo and ultimately had to settle for fifth. At the other end of the spectrum, Ferrari regained the momentum in the championship battle, with Vettel turning a 14-point deficit to Hamilton into a one-point lead, while Ferrari closed the gap to leaders Mercedes to 17 points heading to the next race in France.

Perez's team mate Esteban Ocon scored points for only the third time this season in ninth, while Charles Leclerc scored the final point – his third points-finish in four races - for Sauber. Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly delivered a strong recovery drive to 11th, having started 19th following a grid penalty for an engine change, with Romain Grosjean 12th, beating his Haas team mate Kevin Magnussen despite starting dead last.

There wasn’t a happy end to Fernando Alonso’s 300th Grand Prix weekend. The double world champion had fought his way into the points after a poor qualifying, but was instructed to retire his McLaren when the team identified an exhaust problem. Team mate Stoffel Vandoorne didn’t fare much better as he ended up 16th. At the other end of the spectrum, Ferrari regained the momentum in the championship battle, with Vettel turning a 14-point deficit to Hamilton into a one-point lead, while Ferrari closed the gap to leaders Mercedes to 17 points heading to the next race in France.

Rafael Nadal wins 11th French Open Title

Rafael Nadal’s incredible domination continued with his 11th French Open win. The 32 year old defeated Austria Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-3 6-2 to add yet another Grand Slam title to his resume.

It was Nadal's seventh win in 10 matches against the 24-year-old Thiem, who has been the only player to beat Nadal on clay over the past few years. Nadal was impressive in the title round and managed to keep his flawless French final mark. The top-ranked Nadal only lost one set in his latest title at Roland Garros, making this one of his most dominant and impressive victories yet.

Nadal's incredible record in Paris now reads 86 wins and two defeats. He has won every final he has reached, and in those 11 finals he has dropped just six sets. Rosewall, Laver and Federer are the only other players to have won three or more slams past the age of 30. History rushes to embrace Nadal with every passing triumph.

No-one can catch Nadal now. Not on clay. Victory confirmed his world No 1 ranking and he heads for Wimbledon next month restored to near his best form on his favourite surface. He moves alongside Margaret Court for the most titles at the same slam, 11. His total of 17 majors edges him closer to the 20 owned by 36-year-old Roger Federer, who will be favourite to add to that at the All England Club, where he has been champion eight times.

NBA 2018: Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland Cavaliers to win title

The Golden State Warriors earned their NBA Title in four seasons after completing a comprehensive 4-0 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach Steve Kerr described the triumph as “the hardest so far” but his Warriors side routed the Cavs 108-84 to prevail in the fourth consecutive finals meeting between the teams.

Stephen Curry scored 37 points for the Warriors, while LeBron James claimed 23 in what could be his final Cavs game. The 33-year-old American, playing in his eighth consecutive finals, said he had "no idea at this point" about his future and would consider the decision with his family.

The win added to the Golden State Warriors' victories in 2015 and 2017 and was the first finals clean sweep since the Cavs were demolished by San Antonio Spurs in 2007. It was the second time the Warriors have secured the championship in Cleveland during Kerr's four-year tenure. A James slam dunk had Cleveland ahead 39-38 halfway through the second quarter, but Golden State responded to lead 61-52 at half-time and eased to victory from there.

Curry top scored but it was Kevin Durant who was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row, adding 20 points, 12 rebounds and a post-season career high of 10 assists. It was the 28th consecutive play-off game in which he has scored at least 20 points. While Golden State are building one of the great basketball dynasties, Cleveland's future is clouded by uncertainty.

James, widely regarded as the greatest player of his generation, is expected to leave for a second time, having returned to the franchise in 2014 after departing for Miami four years earlier. The three-time champion revealed he had played the last three matches with a broken right hand, sustained after he scored his best play-off points haul of 51 in the opener.

Italian MotoGP 2018: Jorge Lorenzo wins 1st race of Season

Jorge Lorenzo secured his first MotoGP victory since he joined Ducati in dominant style in the Italian Grand Prix, while Marc Marquez points lead took a hit as he crashed. From second on the grid, Lorenzo surged into an early lead at Mugello ahead of home polesitter Valentino Rossi, with Marquez moving up to third place on the opening lap from sixth with a robust pass on Danilo Petrucci's Pramac Ducati at Turn 2.

Honda rider Marquez then picked off Rossi's Yamaha at the start of the third of 23 laps at the first corner, San Donato, before putting pressure on leader Lorenzo. But on the fifth lap, Marquez lost the front end coming into the Scarperia right-hander, sliding into the gravel trap before remounting.

That left Lorenzo leading Rossi and the second works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, who then moved into the runner-up spot on lap 7 at the Casanova-Savelli switchback. At this point, Lorenzo held a slender advantage of 0.7 seconds, but as the race progressed, the Spaniard was able to maintain his pace, pulling out a lead of 1.5s by the 13th lap. The three-time MotoGP champion was able to reel off the remaining 10 laps and ultimately secure his first win since Valencia 2016 and the 45th of his premier class career by a margin of 6.3s.

Dovizioso looked safe for second until his pace slumped dramatically in the closing laps, but he was able to hold off third-placed Rossi by just 0.259s and complete a Ducati 1-2. Rossi's third place came the hard way, as the 39-year-old was forced to overcome Suzuki pair Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins as well as Petrucci. Rins was fifth ahead of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), who moved ahead of Petrucci with three laps to go. Front row starter Maverick Vinales came eighth on the second works Yamaha, resisting a challenge from Nieto Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista, while Johann Zarco was an anonymous 10th on the Tech 3 Yamaha. Completing the points scorers were Pol Espargaro (KTM), Hafizh Syahrin (Tech 3), Tito Rabat (Avintia), Bradley Smith (KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda). Marquez ended up 16th of 17 lead lap finishers, 12 seconds behind Morbidelli.

F1 2018: Daniel Ricciardo wins Monaco Grand Prix

After an impeccable performance in which he brilliantly overcame being restricted to just six of his eight gears, Ricciardo crossed the line just 7.3 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with Mercedes Lewis Hamilton completing the podium to retain his championship lead.

Raikkonen crossed the line fourth, ahead of Bottas with Esteban Ocon converting a strong qualifying into a 'best-of-the-rest' sixth place for Force India. Pierre Gasly threw his hat into the ring for Driver of the Day - an honor that ultimately went to Ricciardo - with a stunning drive in the Toro Rosso. The Frenchman made the hypersofts last, at a good pace, for nearly half the race, allowing him to move up to seventh. He then drove brilliantly on the supersofts to defend from Hulkenberg to maintain that position. Sainz completed the top 10.

Fernando Alonso failed to see the chequered flag for the first time this season when he pulled up at Ste Devote with smoke emanating from the rear of his car on Lap 53 of the 78. It was a miserable day for Williams, too. Sergey Sirotkin ran 12th early on but picked up a 10-second stop-go penalty for a wheel infringement on the grid, while Lance Stroll suffered two punctures, one of which was caused when he collided with Marcus Ericsson on the opening lap. They were the last classified finishers, more than a lap down.

But the day belonged to Ricciardo and Red Bull, who banished the memories of 2016, when a pit stop error cost the Australian victory here. He still hasn’t had an easy win – each of his now seven F1 triumphs have been challenging – but he won’t care. The Monaco victory is finally his. 

Real Madrid wins UEFA Champions League 2018

It was an epic night, filled with so many different storylines and for Liverpool goalkeeper, Loris Karius, his part in the story will be remembered just as long as Gareth Bale’s incredible bicycle kick or the sight of Salah’s tears.

Bale’s overhead volley, only two minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute, will go straight into the list of greatest all-time goals in a Champions League final and put Madrid on their way to emulating the great Ajax and Bayern Munich of the 1970s by winning this trophy three years in a row.

That, however, tells only part of the narrative from a night when the harsh reality for Liverpool is that Karius was a danger to his own team. His mistake for Karim Benzema to open the scoring was bad enough but the error that led to Bale’s second goal was possibly even worse. Liverpool had started so fearlessly. They were quick to the ball, strong in the challenge and utterly determined to play the game at their pace.

Real hasn't lost a Champions League final since 1981, and they become the first team to win three in a row since Bayern Munich in the mid-70s. Liverpool loses the final, loses Salah to injury finishes the season empty handed with one of their own suffering one of the cruelest fates in the sports, carrying guilt he may have a hard time letting go of for some time.