Football
The Championship football season kicks off later this evening with Middlesbrough taking on Sheffield United at the Riverside Stadium at 20:00 BST this evening.
Golf
At the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after yesterday’s first round at Firestone, Padraig Harrington is leading at -6 by two shots to the tied for second players Prayad Marksaeng, Tim Clark and Scott Verplank who are all -4. Englishman Ian Poulter had a good day and sat on the top of the leaderboard for a while, he went back into the clubhouse tied for five at -3. Poulter’s countryman Paul Casey did not have so much luck however, he pulled out having just played 6 holes with a strained intercostals muscle. Tiger Woods is tied for eighth at -2 alongside Sergio Garcia.
Cycling
Tour de Pologne
5 of the 7 stages have been run in the Tour of Poland so far, and the man who leads the general classification is Lampre-N.G.C’s Alessandro Ballan. 4’’ back in 2nd is Daniel Fernandez Moreno of Caisse d’Epargne and 3rd 6’’ back is Rabobank’s Pieter Weening. The tour could well be decided today, as the penultimate stage is very hilly.
Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos
2 of the 5 stages in the Vuelta a Burgos have take place so far, and it is being led by Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver. However just 1’’ back are Ben Hermans, Alejandro Valverde and Alexandre Botcharov. Today’s 3rd stage is fairly level, so it could end in a bunch sprint.
Volta a Portugal
Just 2 of the 11 stages have taken place thus far, and the leader is Manuel Cardoso of Liberty Seguros. Just behind him in 2nd is Candido Barbosa of Palmeiras Resort – PRI and in 3rd is Jose Pacheco of Contentpolis-AMPO. The sprinters will have to work hard if they want to win today’s stage as there is quite a steep climb, 1,3kms upwards arriving 92,3kms into the stage.
