SPORT in brief

Ireland’s Sam Bennett sprinted to another impressive victory on stage four of cycling’s La Vuelta a Espana in Ejea de los Caballeros.

Less than a month after leading home the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysees, Bennett was launched by his DeceuninckQuickstep team to pip rival Jasper Philipsen (UAE Emirates) over the line with Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma) maintaining his five-second lead over Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) in the overall standings.

Josef Cerny won a shortened stage 19 in the Giro d’Italia for his first Grand Tour stage victory, holding off a late chase from Victor Campenaerts to secure a solo victory.

The race lead was retained by Wilco Kelderman from team Sunweb who leads the general classification over team-mate Jai Hindley.

Tributes have been paid to former Aberdeen football manager Ebbe Skovdahl, who has died at the age of 75.

The Dane was manager of the Dons from 1999 to 2002, leading the club to two cup finals and fourth place in the league, after Aberdeen finished bottom in his first season (see page 12).

Australia great David Pocock has retired after choosing not to continue playing Japanese club rugby.

The 32-year-old openside flanker called time on his international career a year ago having accumulated 83 caps.

Teams in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 cricket competition will be allowed to field up to three overseas players in the coming season, up from two last summer.

Dawid Malan and Rashid Khan are among foreign talent to take part in the Big Bash League, due to start next month.