Cycling: Former junior title holder Mark Scanlon today gets his 2001 World Championships campaign under way when he lines out in the 34-km Espoir (under-23) time trial in Lisbon, reports Shane Stokes.
Bolstered by his seventh place on Sunday in the under-23 Paris Tours classic and a strong showing in the recent European championship time trial, the 20-year-old has had the best build-up since his historic 1998 win.
Scanlon and fellow Espoir rider Denis Lynch line out in the 33.7-km time trial at 12.30 this morning, and will join Dermot Nally and Gary McQuaid in the under-23 road race on Friday. Tomorrow sees Tim Cassidy and Philip Deignan tackle the junior time trial, with Nicolas Roche and Pβid∅ O'Brien completing the Grant Thornton Team Ireland line-up for Saturday's road race.
In the Elite ranks, CCC Mat professional David McCann contests the men's time trial on Thursday while Susan O'Mara's ride in the women's road race takes place on Saturday.
Rugby: Britain was braced for double disappointment last night as Australia's union and league teams admitted that their eagerly awaited tours to Europe were under threat following increased security concerns.
Although no final decisions have been made, British officials from both codes are frantically trying to provide reassurances over safety to ensure that the money-spinning fixtures are fulfilled.
Australian players were quoted yesterday as saying that they were prepared to stay at home if the crisis, sparked by the bombing of Afghanistan, deteriorated. The Kangaroos, the league team, are due to leave on Saturday; their union counterparts, the Wallabies, depart on October 20th.
"At the moment the tour is still on," said John O'Neill, the ARU's chief-executive. "But the position could change and our paramount concern is the safety of players, officials and supporters who will be ma king the trip. We will not expose anyone to the slightest danger and we will be guided by the government."
The All Blacks will also tour the Northern Hemisphere this autumn and are scheduled to play Ireland at Lansdowne Road on November 17th. Samoa play Ireland the previous weekend.
Motor Sport: Michael Schumacher did not know his younger brother Ralf got married last week until after the event.
"Congratulate me, we've just got married," the 26-year-old Williams driver told his older sibling last Friday in a telephone call, according to Schumacher's official website.
Ralf Schumacher made the call soon after he married Cora Brinkmann in a private civil ceremony in Austria.
Michael had been in a helicopter, leaving Ferrari's test track at Fiorano to catch his plane back to Switzerland when the call came.
"We really didn't know anything about this," Schumacher was quoted as saying. "It's truly wonderful. And the best thing about it is that they succeeded in getting married in secret, which is what they wanted."
Meanwhile, FIA, Formula One's governing body, yesterday rejected speculation that Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix was in doubt after the air strikes on Afghanistan.
