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Former Israel-Premier Tech cyclist faces €30m damages claim after ending contract over ‘personal belief’

  • Derek Gee: ‘Decision weighed heavily on conscience’

  • Team says case will go before arbitral board of UCI

Canadian cyclist Derek Gee says he is facing a damages claim of €30m from his former team Israel-Premier Tech after ending his contract over what he described as “personal beliefs”.

The 28-year-old finished fourth overall at this year’s Giro d’Italia, but left Israel-Premier Tech shortly before September’s Vuelta a España, a race which was subject to pro-Palestinian protests linked to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

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Winter is coming: England’s cricketers fly out for long tour that will decide Ashes and World Cup

Four decades ago Mike Gatting lamented 30-game schedule and while improvements were made, players will be weary of gruelling season ahead

A meteorologist would say that England’s winter will start this year at midnight on 1 December; an astronomer would point a few weeks later to the 21st, perhaps even the moment at precisely 3.03pm when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the sun, the least sun-kissed moment of its least sunny day. But a cricket fan might go a little earlier, perhaps as soon as next Saturday at about 7.15am. Leaves might still be clinging to trees as yet unbothered by frost, but that is when the national side is scheduled to play its first fixture of a hectic touring schedule, and by the time it all ends the Ashes will have been decided, a World Cup will have been won, and it will be spring.

For the players involved in all formats, these moments will bring a combination of excitement and perhaps also a bit of dread. The T20 squad departed for New Zealand on Friday, with the four men among them who have also been selected for the Ashes – Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Zak Crawley – knowing that only injury will bring them home within the next three months (and even then for no more than 10 days, before they depart again this time for Sri Lanka and from there a T20 World Cup in India).

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Polanco hits winning single in the 15th inning as the Mariners beat the Tigers to advance to ALCS

SEATTLE — Jorge Polanco hit a game-ending single in the 15th inning, and the Seattle Mariners advanced to the AL Championship Series by outlasting the Detroit Tigers for a 3-2 victory Friday night in the longest winner-take-all postseason game in baseball history.

With one out and the bases loaded, Polanco drove in J.P. Crawford with a liner to right off Tommy Kahnle. Crawford hit a leadoff single, Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch and Julio Rodríguez was intentionally walked before Polanco’s big swing on the 472nd pitch of an epic Game 5 in a tightly contested Division Series.

The Mariners left 12 runners on base and still managed to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2001. Next up is a matchup with the AL East champion Blue Jays, beginning on Sunday night at Toronto.

“We never give up. We just keep fighting. It doesn’t matter how many innings we play,” Polanco said. “We just stay ready and wait for the moment. It’s going to come. It was my time.”

Luis Castillo pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win in his first major league relief appearance. Logan Gilbert, another member of Seattle’s rotation, worked two scoreless innings in his first relief outing since his college days at Stetson University in 2017.

“It was such a tough night,” Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh said. “Everyone put their other stuff side and did everything for the team, including Logan and Luis.”

Detroit wasted a stellar performance by Tarik Skubal, who struck out 13 while pitching six innings of one-run ball. The Tigers went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.

“We had an incredible game today that — unfortunately, somebody had to lose, and that somebody was us, and it hurts,” manager A.J. Hinch said.

Kerry Carpenter put Detroit in front when he hit a two-run homer off Gabe Speier in the sixth inning. Carpenter had four hits and walked twice, becoming the first player to reach five times and hit a home run in a winner-take-all postseason game since Babe Ruth in 1926.

The Mariners tied it at 2 on Leo Rivas’ pinch-hit single off Tyler Holton in the seventh. Rivas celebrated his 28th birthday with his first postseason hit.

“He was up to the task tonight,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “It was a huge hit.”

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Seattle dropped four of its six games against Toronto this season. The Mariners won two of three in an April series in Toronto, but they were swept by the Blue Jays at home from May 9-11.