Sports, in brief

On Saturday the riders at Il Lombardia stood still for about five minutes after the starting flag was waved in Bergamo, Italy. [2][1]

Il Lombardia is one of cycling's five 'Monuments', its most prestigious and long-standing one-day races. [2]

Remco Evenepoel, a Belgian double Olympic champion, spoke for them: there were 'too many incidents happening with vehicles in the race'. [2]

He spoke of Fin Tarling, a 19-year-old British rider who died on 14 August after a vehicle got onto the closed road at the Tour of Portugal. [2][7][1]

In the week before, two smaller Italian races let vehicles onto the course. On Monday a delivery van drove onto the Coppa Bernocchi route behind the leaders. [5]

On Tuesday, at the Tre Valli Varesine, a police motorbike riding the wrong way hit two riders, Thomas Gloag and Marcel Camprubi. Gloag needed stitches in his knee. [6][7]

The CPA, the riders' union, said they wanted to show 'what riders can do when we stand as one'. It asked the UCI, cycling's world governing body, to make race organisers take responsibility. [2]

The UCI has not said in public what, if anything, happened to the organisers of races where vehicles got onto the course this year. [5]

Tarling's family thanked the riders and said they hoped the UCI was listening. [3]

Then the race made history. Paul Seixas of France, aged 20 years and 16 days, became its youngest winner since it began in 1905. [3][1]

Seixas attacked on the Civiglio climb with about 20km left and won by 48 seconds from Spain's Enric Mas. [3][4][1]

Tadej Pogacar, who had won the last five editions, was out injured. Evenepoel finished fourth, and the new world champion, Brandon McNulty, fifth. [1][3]

Why it matters. Watch whether the UCI names any penalty for the organisers of the two Italian races, after the riders' union asked it to make organisers take responsibility. [2][5]

Rayo Vallecano's league match with Athletic Club was abandoned on Saturday, goalless, before half-time. [9] Home fans threw hundreds of paper planes and small rubber balls onto the pitch to protest about the club's owner and president, Raul Martin Presa. [8][9] It was Rayo's first game back at their own stadium, Vallecas, after an audit found safety risks there, including Legionnaires' disease, a lung infection caught from bacteria in water. [8] They had played their first three home games at another club's ground. [10] Presa has owned the club since 2011. [11]

Why it matters. The fans' printed message promised to keep escalating the conflict until Presa leaves. [9] Rayo is the only club in Spain's top league with no website for buying tickets, so fans queue for hours at a small box office. [8]

Portugal's football federation has suspended its 41-year-old captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, while it decides his punishment, and called the case urgent. [12][14] Ronaldo walked out of the national squad on 30 September. [13] The coach, Jorge Jesus, had left him on the bench against Norway and then said he would not start against Denmark. [14] The federation's rules set a ban of one to six months, and a fine, for a player who walks out. [12] Ronaldo has apologised and said he deserves to be punished. [12]

Why it matters. Under Jesus, Portugal won all four of their matches this autumn and climbed back to fifth in the world rankings. [13] The federation's president said there is 'a strong desire to have our captain back'. [12]

Oklahoma beat Texas 27-24 on Saturday with a 47-yard kick by Tate Sandell on the last play of the game. [15] The two universities meet every year in Dallas, in a game called the Red River rivalry. [20][15] Texas were ranked first in US college football, and Oklahoma had never beaten a top-ranked Texas side in five tries. [16] Oklahoma had lost both of their earlier games against strong teams this season, to Michigan and Georgia. [16]

Why it matters. In August Oklahoma gave its coach, Brent Venables, a new contract to 2031 worth $10.5m a year, which makes him very costly to sack. [17] The win came as questions about his job were growing. [17]

Georgia beat Alabama 20-17 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama's home city, on Saturday night, in a game between two unbeaten teams. [18] It was Georgia's first win there since 2007. [18] With Texas beaten earlier in the day, Georgia are expected to take first place in the weekly ranking of US college teams. [20] Alabama's late chance faded after a Georgia defender hit a receiver before the ball arrived and no foul was given. [19]

Why it matters. Alabama's coach, Kalen DeBoer, shouted at the officials over the missed call. [19] Even after its first defeat, Alabama still has a path into the College Football Playoff, the knockout that decides the national title. [18]

The Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 in the fifth and deciding game of their baseball play-off series on Saturday. [21] Cleveland had lost the first two games, and only six teams since 1995 had come back from that in a best-of-five series. [21] The White Sox struck out 21 times, a record for a nine-inning play-off game, three days after setting the old record of 19. [22] Cleveland now play the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League title, starting on Monday. [21]

Why it matters. The White Sox lost 100 games or more in each of the three seasons before this one, including a record 121 in 2024. [23] This year they won 84 and came within one win of the last four. [23]

Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior was sent off against Villarreal on Saturday for pulling an opponent's hair. [26] He thought he had scored Madrid's second goal, but a video review showed him tugging Nathan Saliba's hair at the start of the move. [24] Madrid won 1-0 anyway. [24] He will miss next week's match with Sevilla and could miss the season's first game against Barcelona, on 25 October. [24]

Why it matters. The referee's report says Vinicius came at him 'with an aggressive attitude' and had to be held back by teammates. [25] His coach, Jose Mourinho, skipped his press conference, and Vinicius apologised on Instagram. [25]

Mike Repole, who sold the drinks brands Vitaminwater and BodyArmor to Coca-Cola for $4bn and $5.6bn, has bought one million shares in Churchill Downs. [27] The company owns the Kentucky Derby, a US horse race watched by 24.4 million people at its peak last year. [27] The shares are nearly 1.5% of the company, worth just under $80m, and he says he may buy more. [27] He says racing needs 'stronger leadership and greater accountability' from its old guard. [27]

Why it matters. Repole says about 50,000 racehorses were born each year 30 years ago, and about 15,000 are born now. [27] Churchill Downs said it welcomed his 'significant investment', so for now the two sides are working together. [27]

Manchester United drew 1-1 at home with Tottenham, who scored in added time while playing a man short. [28] Rodrigo Bentancur had been sent off in the 78th minute for a headbutt on Luke Shaw. [30] United have six points from six games, their fewest at this stage of a season since 1986-87. [29] Their own fans jeered during the game, and their manager, Michael Carrick, said he was 'massively disappointed'. [28]

Why it matters. United are now closer in points to the bottom three, who go down, than to the places that reach the Champions League. [29] Tottenham are still without a league win and sit in the bottom three. [30]

Arsenal, last season's English champions, beat Leeds 2-1 after going behind in the 55th minute. [32] Bruno Guimaraes, a £75m summer signing, came off the bench and scored the winner. [32][31] The result ended Leeds' unbeaten start and moved Arsenal level on points with Manchester City at the top. [31][32] Defender Piero Hincapie was carried off during the warm-down after the final whistle. [32]

Why it matters. Arsenal have now fallen behind in three of their last four league games. [32] Manchester City, found guilty of breaking the league's money rules, play at Liverpool on Sunday. [33]

Chelsea beat Bournemouth 5-1, their first league win in four games. [35][34] Jordan Henderson, a 36-year-old midfielder who joined from Brentford in the summer, scored twice on his home debut. [34] He is the oldest player Chelsea have signed since their current owners, a group called BlueCo, took over. [34] The win moved Chelsea up to fifth. [34]

Why it matters. The coach, Xabi Alonso, said the club signed Henderson 'for everything', not for goals. [34] Chelsea have now gone 22 league games without keeping the other team from scoring. [34]

Fulham lost 2-1 at Ipswich after conceding twice from the 88th minute. [36] It was the second league game in a row that they led near the end and did not win. [36] Fulham are bottom of the Premier League with two points from six games. [36] They have let in goals in the last 15 minutes of four of their six league games. [36]

Why it matters. Their manager, Alvaro Arbeloa, replaced Marco Silva, who left for Benfica in the summer after keeping Fulham safe since 2021. [36] Arbeloa had managed only five months at senior level, at Real Madrid, and says he does not 'feel fear'. [36]

Max Verstappen won Saturday's short sprint race in Singapore and then took pole position, first place on the starting grid, for Sunday's Grand Prix. [37] He beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by five hundredths of a second. [37] It was his 50th pole and his first in Singapore, a week after his first race win of the season in Malaysia. [37][38] Mercedes' George Russell starts last, after a penalty for fitting a new engine. [37]

Why it matters. Kimi Antonelli, Russell's Mercedes teammate and the championship leader, starts fourth, so Russell's penalty helps the leader. [37] Verstappen is too far behind to win the title himself this year. [38]

Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday in 2 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds, a race record by two seconds. [40] He is 41, a two-time Olympic champion and a former world record holder. [40] It was his first marathon win since Berlin in September 2023. [40] Melbourne is the third stop in his plan to run a marathon on every continent, Antarctica included. [39]

Why it matters. He slowed down to wave to the crowd inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, so he could have run faster. [40] New Zealand's Camille French won the women's race in 2:28:25. [40]

Novak Djokovic, 39, lost 6-4 6-3 to Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the second round of the Shanghai Masters on Friday. [41] He had won all eight of their earlier matches. [41] Days before, Djokovic won the China Open in Beijing, the 102nd title of his career, when Alex de Minaur retired injured from the final. [42] It was his sixth match in ten days, and he said he did not feel fresh. [42][41]

Why it matters. Hurkacz won the Shanghai event in 2023 and has now won eight matches in a row there. [41] Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, won his first match and has won seven in a row. [43]

Zheng Qinwen, the Olympic champion, became the first Chinese player to reach the women's China Open final in Beijing. [44] The organisers gave her a free place, called a wildcard, after she came back from an elbow injury. [44] She beat Belgium's Elise Mertens 7-5 6-2 on Saturday. [44] In the final she meets Mirra Andreeva, the French Open winner, who beat Nikola Bartunkova 6-2 6-2. [44]

Why it matters. Mertens had knocked out Coco Gauff earlier in the week, days after Gauff was flooded with racist abuse online. [45] Zheng said Beijing is 'like the fifth Grand Slam' for her, one more beside tennis's four biggest events. [44]

The United Nations' human rights office said on Saturday that the racist messages sent to Coco Gauff were 'appalling'. [45] It said they show Black female athletes are 'specifically targeted' for abuse. [45] Gauff, an American ranked fourth in the world, got the messages after a disputed point in her China Open match against Sun Xinran on Monday. [45] She lost two days later and said she had 'no energy'. [45]

Why it matters. The office called on players, coaches and sports bodies to stand up for people facing such attacks. [45] It also asked fans to push back against those who abuse players. [45]

Spain, the women's world champions, beat the United States 2-0 in a friendly in Washington on Saturday, scoring twice in the first 14 minutes. [46] Spain have been top of FIFA's world ranking for 60 weeks. [46] The US are second, and won the 2024 Olympics. [46] It was the first time the US had played the world's top-ranked team at home. [46] Late on, Spain's Athenea del Castillo was sent off for pulling hair. [46]

Why it matters. The US coach, Emma Hayes, has filled this year with hard games on purpose before the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. [46] Hayes said bad luck was not the reason they lost. [47]

Kentucky beat LSU, ranked tenth, 35-34 in overtime, winning with a two-point conversion. [48][49] LSU led 27-24 with 97 seconds left, but Kentucky drove 63 yards for a field goal that tied the game. [48] It was LSU's eighth defeat in a row away from home against teams in its own league, the Southeastern Conference. [48] LSU last won such a game in October 2024. [48]

Why it matters. A second defeat puts LSU's place in the College Football Playoff in doubt. [48] Its coach, Lane Kiffin, arrived after most of those defeats, but his own record in league games away from home since 2020 is 13 wins and 13 losses. [48]

UCLA beat Oregon 17-15, and Oregon gave the ball away seven times. [50] Less than two months ago Oregon were among the favourites for the national title, with one of the most expensive teams in college football. [50] Their first-choice quarterback, Dante Moore, is out with a concussion. [51] His backup, Dylan Raiola, completed 6 of 19 passes, threw two interceptions and was taken off. [50]

Why it matters. Raiola had left a starting job at Nebraska, which paid him millions, to take less money as Oregon's backup, his coach said. [51] Keeping a backup that good is rare now that players can move freely to wherever they will start. [51]

Nebraska led Indiana, the defending national champions, with 12 minutes left and lost 20-17. [52] Indiana scored 14 points in under five minutes. [52] It was Nebraska's 31st defeat in a row against teams ranked in the top 25. [52] They last beat a top-seven team in 2015. [52]

Why it matters. A win would have been Nebraska's biggest since they beat Oklahoma, then the national champions, in 2001. [52] Their coach, Matt Rhule, is still looking for a win that shows real progress. [52]

Northampton beat Bath in England's top rugby league in a game with 18 tries and 119 points between the two sides. [53][54] Northampton, the champions, scored 11 tries to Bath's seven, and Ollie Sleightholme scored three of them. [53][54] It was the second-highest scoring match in the league's history. [54] The record, 127 points, came in Northampton's 94-33 win over Bristol in May. [54]

Why it matters. Northampton's director of rugby, Phil Dowson, said: 'We don't want it to be 99-88. It's not basketball.' [53] Bath had made 12 changes to their team, and it was their first defeat of the season. [54]

Edinburgh went top of the United Rugby Championship, a league of clubs from five countries, after a win at Zebre in Italy. [55] They scored four tries, which earns a bonus point, and have won three games out of three. [55] In Belfast, Ulster were 26-5 down to Munster at half-time and came back to draw. [56] Stuart McCloskey scored the try that levelled it three minutes from the end. [56]

Why it matters. It was Ulster's second draw in a row, and they are still looking for their first win. [56] Jacob Stockdale scored twice in his 150th game for the club. [56]

Matt Renshaw scored 190 for Australia in the first Test, cricket's five-day form, against South Africa in Durban. [58][57] Australia were 124 for six on the first day, and Renshaw batted on until he was last out with the total at 390. [57][58] South Africa were 27 for one at the close. [57] It was his best Test score, beating 184 against Pakistan in January 2017. [58]

Why it matters. Renshaw had averaged 19 across ten Tests before his recall this year. [58] He was born in Middlesbrough, England, and was a childhood friend of England's captain, Joe Root. [58]

Darkness Falls, trained by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, narrowly beat the favourite, Desert Castle, in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket. [60] Desert Castle had been unbeaten. [60] The Dewhurst is a Group One race, the highest level in flat racing. [59] Darkness Falls had won over nine furlongs last time and dropped back to seven, about 1.4km, to win this one. [60]

Why it matters. He is now aimed at the Triple Crown, three classic races that no horse has won since Nijinsky in 1970. [59] His father, Camelot, won the first two of them in 2012 and lost the third. [59]

Barcelona beat Getafe 3-0 for their eighth league win in eight games, equalling their best start in Spain's top league. [11][61] Anthony Gordon, an England forward who joined from Newcastle this summer, scored his first goal for the club. [61] They won without their top scorer, Raphinha, who is injured. [11] Barcelona now lead Atletico Madrid by five points. [61]

Why it matters. Real Madrid are third, a point further back, and play Barcelona on 25 October. [61][24]

Bayern Munich drew 2-2 at Augsburg after giving away the fastest goal in the history of Germany's top league. [11] Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer miscued a clearance straight from the kick-off, and Robin Fellhauer scored after eight seconds. [11] Bayern have now dropped points in two of their five games. [11] Bayer Leverkusen won 4-3 at Mainz, and Leipzig beat Eintracht Frankfurt 6-0. [11]

Why it matters. Leverkusen are the only club to break Bayern's hold on the German title in the last 14 seasons. [11]

Rangers beat Kilmarnock 3-1 to go top of the Scottish Premiership, a point ahead of Celtic. [62] Ryan Naderi scored twice with headers. [62][63] It was Rangers' sixth league win in a row, after a poor start and an early exit from Europe. [62][63] Celtic play Motherwell on Sunday. [62]

Why it matters. Rangers had let in one league goal in five games before Saturday. [63] Their manager, Derek McInnes, started eight players who had just returned from playing for their countries. [62]

Swansea came from behind to beat Norwich 2-1 and went top of the Championship, England's second division. [64] A draw for West Ham the night before let them go top. [64] Middlesbrough marked their 150th anniversary with a 1-0 win over Wolves and moved up to second. [64] Norwich have now lost four games in a row. [64]

Why it matters. Swansea's coach, Vitor Matos, said many players had only rejoined training in the last days before the game, after playing for their countries. [64]