Hi °C | Lo °C Waterford driver Craig Breen leads the S2000 class of Rally Great Britain, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, after day one. The Motorsport Ireland Driver of the Year takes an overnight lead of one minute and 14 seconds into today's second day in Wales.
Breen had a slow start on the first of the six stages and after the first run he lay in third position behind New Zealander Hayden Paddon and current championship leader PG Andersson. But on the day's second stage Andersson suffered wheel problems, while Paddon was stopped on the stage and lost over 12 minutes, which put Breen into the lead.
The 23-year-old established a 40- second lead at the halfway point and with his two main championship rivals out of contention he knew taking it steady would see him secure a healthy overnight lead. Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle did just that and stretched their lead over the following three stages from Yaz Al Rajhi in second and Tom Cave in third.
Boxing
Ricky Hatton will return to the boxing ring in November after the former world welterweight and light-welterweight champion confirmed he was coming out of retirement yesterday.
The Manchester-based fighter, who quit the sport after a devastating two-round knockout at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in May 2009, will fight a so far un-named opponent in his home city's MEN Arena in November.
"I got beaten by the best two pound-for-pound fighters of their generation," Hatton said. "It was a two-round demolition against Manny Pacquiao and nobody wants to end their career like that."
Hatton, whose best performance came in 2005 when he stopped Australia's Kostya Tszyu to add the IBF light-welterweight title to the WBU belt he already owned, had a perfect 43-0 career record until he was floored by Floyd Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas in 2007 and he was never really the same again.
cycling
British rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke of the third division Endura Racing team claimed the yellow jersey of race leader at the Tour of Britain in Caerphilly yesterday with some trademark aggressive riding on the final two climbs of the day, writes Gerard Cromwell.
Tiernan-Locke, who has previously won stages of the An Post Ras, went clear with German Leopold Koenig ( NetApp) on the first ascent of Caerphilly Mountain and despite little help from his breakaway colleague and eventual stage winner Koenig, managed to hold off the rest of the peloton to take over the race lead.
Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins failed to start yesterday due to stomach trouble while An Post youngster Sam Bennett, who had begun the day in 11th place overall, did not finish the stage.
Tiernan-Locke now holds a 13-second lead over Aussie Leigh Howard of Orica GreenEdge with Howard's compatriot Nathan Haas of Garmin Sharp third at 18 seconds with two stages remaining.
