Sport

Clarke takes stage in Tour of Rhodes

Cycling: Ray Clarke, of the Irish team, won stage three of the Tour of Rhodes yesterday

Sat Feb 27 1999 - 00:00

Cycling: Ray Clarke, of the Irish team, won stage three of the Tour of Rhodes yesterday. The Irish champion broke away on his own and gained a lead of 35 seconds and then held on to win by 14 seconds at the end of the 132km circuit. The other four surviving members of the team were all together in the main group and Ciaran Power is seventh overall going into today's final stage with David O'Loughlin 17th , Clarke 18th and David McQuaid 19th.

TOUR OF RHODES - Stage Three (132km) - 1, R Clarke (Ire) 3:4:50; 2, P Kouecny (Czech) at 14 secs; 3, J Regel (Aust) same time; other Irish placings: 29, C Power; 43, D McQuaid; 53, D O'Loughlin, all same time; 88, S Gallagher at 10.04. Overall: 1, A Kaspret (Aust) 9:44:17; 2, M Skelda (Aust) at 46 secs; 3, M Johansson (Swed) 1:11; 7, Power at 3:21; 17, O'Loughlin 7:04; 18, Clarke 7:05; 19, McQuaid 7:29; 65, Gallagher 19:59.

Tour de France champion Marco Pantani has hit out at this summer's route to keep fans guessing over his participation in the race. The 29-year-old Italian is a natural climber but claims this year's event favours time-trialers. "I won the tour last year on a course which was not favourable to me. I hoped for a better route this year but it wasn't the case," said Pantani.

Motor Sport: Former world champion Damon Hill has urged motor racing's ruling body to investigate a spate of dangerous rear wing failures on Formula One cars in the pre-season testing period.

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"It's very worrying," the Jordan driver was quoted as saying in the latest edition of Autosport magazine, suggesting that some teams might be breaking the rules by experimenting with "bendy rear wings".

"Lots of teams have been having problems with them and, unless I need my eyes testing, it appears that quite a few cars go past with their rear wings leaning backwards. You can see them bending."

Tennis: Amelie Mauresmo scored sweet revenge when she beat World number-one Martina Hingis to reach the semi-finals at the Paris Indoor Open yesterday. The 19-year-old French player notched up a dramatic 2-6, 6-1 6-3 victory to avenge her straight-sets defeat in the women's final at Melbourne.

Rugby: Defending champions Canterbury Crusaders opened their 1999 Super 12 rugby series campaign with a runaway 48-3 win over the Waikato Chiefs in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday.