Geraint Thomas opened up an immediate advantage on his Giro d’Italia rivals as his Ineos Grenadiers outfit enjoyed a dream start. Wales’ 2018 Tour de France champ finished fourth fastest on the opening 15.1km time trial won by team-mate Filippo Ganna.

The Cup dream is dead, long live the League Two dream, according to Newport County manager Michael Flynn. Three days after the cruellest defeat to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup, Flynn has already erased it from his immediate thoughts and expects his players to do the same when they return to League Two action at home against Mansfield today. The Exiles were only three minutes away from beating Steve Bruce’s Magpies and reaching the Carabao Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

Marc Guehi is showing Premier League class defending for Swansea at present and it’s no surprise given who is smoothing his path. The Swans centre-back has been in outstanding form after Chelsea legend Claude Makelele had a word in the youngster’s ear and further advice from Carlo Cudicini. Both men agreed Swansea is the perfect place to help the young on-loan Blues defender realise his dream of one day becoming a regular in Frank Lampard’s senior side at Stamford Bridge.

Rhys Norrington-Davies has revealed how he got his first call-up into Wales’ senior squad – by email! The full-back is relishing linking up with the squad tomorrow having made the 27-strong party for the friendly with England and Nations Cup games against the Republic of Ireland and Bulgaria.

A London Marathon like no other takes place on Sunday. The field is small, elite, and will be running tight laps rather than a wide loop. But there will be a Welsh flavour, too, all looking for fast times as Owen Morgan reports. Four Welsh athletes will take their places in arguably the greatest and most exclusive marathon fields ever assembled this Sunday. With a mass participation Virgin Money London Marathon event out of the question this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions, elite men’s, women’s and wheelchair races will go ahead in the capital on Sunday.

Geraint Thomas says he has unfinished business on the Giro d’Italia as he bids to banish painful memories of the race. The 34-year-old was in with a real chance of claiming his first Grand Tour title in 2017 when lying second overall going into stage nine.

Dean Ryan believes the Dragons missed a trick even though they were well beaten, 35-5 by Leinster in Dublin in their Guinness PRO14 opener on Friday night. Coaching director Ryan watched his team go 21-0 down by the break having been reduced to 14 men with Leinster scoring through Garry Ringrose, Jordan Larmour and James Lowe. After the break Lowe added his second and Ryan Baird completed Leinster’s scoring before Ashton Hewitt grabbed a deserved away try.

Joel Makin saw his epic run at the PSA World Tour Finals ended after a tough semi-final battle in Cairo. The 25-year-old British No 1 was beaten 2-0 by Egpyt’s defending champ Karim Abdel Gawad.

World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont has said there was no choice but to write off the global rankings for 2020 – which has given Wales a leg-up in the World Cup seedings. Wales and England will be among the top seeding band when pools for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France are drawn later this year. World Rugby announced on Friday that world rankings as of January 1 this year will be used to decide the bands.

Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres is set for an immediate debut against Millwall after joining Swansea City on a season-long loan from Brighton. The 22-year-old is confident he can make an impact – and plans on starting against the Lions at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.

Pace-setting Michael Beynon will say a big thank you to his team on Sunday – if he’s got the breath left in him. The 25-year-old from Ammanford will become the first person from Wales with Down’s Syndrome to run the London Marathon when the race goes virtual for the first time. Only elite runners are being allowed to pound the streets of London this year, due to restrictions imposed because of the pandemic.

Morgan Gibbs-White was so determined to become a footballer he’d infuriate his teachers by kicking a ball in the school corridors between lessons. It inevitably led to a few detentions for the Swansea City loan star from Wolves who marked his league debut with the winner at Preston on the opening day of the season.

As the new Guinness Pro14 season kicks off, many rugby fans be will looking forward to great tries, flowing moves and wondrous skills. Others, well, their tastes are more . . . fundamental. They love big hits, snarling confrontations and perhaps a bit of sneaky retribution (within the laws, of course). Author Luke Upton loves a hard […]

The Dragons start their Guinness Pro 14 campaign in Dublin tonight at the home of champions, Leinster. Pulling the strings for the region will be Sam Davies, who has at least one former Wales star backing him for a significant breakthrough this season, as he tells Graham Thomas. Sam Davies can win back the Wales No.10 shirt this season when he finally steps out of Dan Biggar’s shadow. That’s the verdict of James Hook, the former Wales outside-half turned coach, who was a teammate of both the current Wales rivals during his years with the Ospreys.

Geraint Thomas launches his bid for the Giro d’Italia crown in Sardinia on Saturday happy with his tag as one of the strong favourites. The 2018 Tour de France champ has hit form at the right time as he looks for the second Grand Tour title of his career.

Cardiff schoolgirl Nell Desir is one of the fastest young sprinters in the world. The Cardiff Archer boasts the second-fastest time ever by an under-12 athlete over 60m and has posted half-a-dozen of the fastest European age-grade times recorded.

Albert Adomah is still on Cardiff City’s radar, according to manager Neil Harris. The Bluebirds boss had the Nottingham Forest winger on loan during the second half of last season and was impressed with the impact made by the experienced former Aston Villa star. But Adomah returned to Forest after lockdown and his parent club refused to extend his loan spell to cover the re-start of the campaign – much to Harris’s dissatisfaction.

Former Swansea City loan star Rhian Brewster is poised to sign for Sheffield United in a £23.5million deal from Liverpool. So what will Sheffield United get for their money as they look to stay in the Premier League after a disappointing start to the season. This is what Steve Cooper said about Brewster who was […]

Welsh decathlete Ben Gregory says wearing a cycling helmet saved him from “having my head all over the pavement” after his bike was hit by a car in rush-hour London traffic. The three-time Commonwealth Games competitor was left helpless as he flew through the air before landing head first on the tarmac last Monday evening.

Joel Makin conjured up an outstanding display to beat Paul Coll and reach the PSA World Tour semi-finals in Cairo. The 25-year-old from Haverfordwest triumphed 2-0 taking just 34 minutes to win 11-3, 11-5 against Paul Coll in their Group B decider.