Sport news in brief
Cavendish completes hat-trick of stage wins in Turkey
Mark Cavendish won his third victory in as many days after again finishing first in the fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey yesterday. Having already taken stages two and three on Monday and Tuesday, Cavendish held his sprint finish until the final 200 metres, catching Jasper Philipsen partway to the finish line and surging beyond the Belgian to take his third win in the eight-stage race. There was also a big crash in the sprint finish, as other riders collided with the barrier. Prior to this week it had been over 1,150 days since the last win for Cavendish, but this hat-trick has ended his three-year drought in style. The Deceuninck–Quick-Step sprinter said on Tuesday after taking the third stage that he felt his “confidence is still coming back” and this latest victory further extends his overall lead in the Tour of Turkey.
Arteta banks on big-name magic to keep Arsenal in Europe
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has refused to consider the prospect of missing out on European football next season and called on his players to “create magical moments” in tonight’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Slavia Prague. Arsenal are languishing in ninth in the Premier League standings, seven points behind sixth-placed Liverpool, and face a tough task to qualify for Europe through their league position. Another route to Europe is by winning the Europa League, but the London club, who been involved in continental competition every year since 1996/97, have their work cut out after being held 1-1 by Slavia in the first leg at home. When asked whether he had entertained the thought of missing out on European competition, Arteta told a news conference: “No. Because I don’t want to put it in my mind or transmit it to any of the players or anybody at the club.” Arteta said Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe would be available for the trip to Prague but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Martin Odegaard face late fitness tests. “In big games, big players have to step in and create the magic moments,” he added. “So let’s hope that we can have them. It doesn’t matter who it is but someone has to create when the team needs those moments. We have moments in the season where it has been the senior players and then other moments where it has been the young players. It doesn’t really matter.”
McGregor and Poirier’s trilogy bout confirmed for July
Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will clash in the UFC Octagon for the third time when they headline UFC 264 on 10 July, it has been confirmed. Former two-division champion McGregor knocked out Poirier in the first round of their 2014 featherweight meeting, before the American exacted his revenge at lightweight this January, stopping McGregor in the second round. UFC president Dana White announced yesterday that the rivals will complete their trilogy – in a lightweight main event – in Las Vegas this summer inside a full-capacity T-Mobile Arena. Approximately 20,000 fans are expected to attend as McGregor and ‘The Diamond’ settle their rivalry, which this week saw McGregor threaten to forego a rematch with Poirier over the latter’s accusations that his opponent had failed to deliver on the promise of a charitable donation to The Good Fight Foundation. McGregor said ahead of the pair’s bout in January that he would give $500,000 to Poirier’s charity, but the Irishman’s team have – according to Poirier – ignored all contact over the donation, which has not been made. McGregor insisted that he had been waiting for specific details on how the money would be used before completing the donation.