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■ CYCLING

Cavendish wins again

Britain’s Mark Cavendish of the High Road team won the 207km Grand Prix de l’Escaut for the second successive year in Schoten, Belgium, on Wednesday, just ahead of top sprinters Tom Boonen of Belgium and Australia’s Robbie McEwen. Germany’s Eric Zabel took fourth place but it needed a photo-finish to separate Cavendish and former world road race champion Boonen. Boonen, who won the Paris-Roubaix classic on Sunday, thought he had won the race and even raised his arms on the finish line, but in fact it was Cavendish who was ruled the winner. “I didn’t see Mark beside me,” Boonen said afterwards. Belgium’s Koen Barbe and Dutchman Albert Timmer made a break early in the race but were caught with 27km to go having at one point led the main bunch by 13 minutes. The teams with top sprinters — Quick Step, High Road, Millram and Silence mainly — took the initiative in reeling in the breakaway riders before trying to set up their men for the dash to the line.



■ SAILING

Brits win fifth race in Miami

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson of Britain won the fifth race in the six-race Star World Championship at Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday. Big wind shifts from the northwest to the East with wind from 8 knots to 20 knots forced two start line resets and a change on the second weather mark. “We finally got it right,” Percy said. The team had a black flag in race two and a disqualification in race four and despite the win have no chance for anything better than a mid-fleet overall finish. Diego Negri and Luigi Viale of Italy finished second, and John Dane and Austin Sperry of the US followed in third. With all competitors discarding their worst finish after the race, fourth-place Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki of Poland were first overall with nine points, followed by Negri and Viale with 17.



■ MOTOR RACING

Mosley touted in Jordan

Motor racing supremo Max Mosley will be special guest of the organizers of the Jordan Rally from next Thursday to Sunday, rally chiefs said on Wednesday. “We are pleased to announce that FIA president Max Mosley will be present at the Jordan rally at the invitation of His Majesty Prince Feisal Al Hussein, president of Jordan Motorsport,” a statement read. Mosley “has always supported Jordan’s candidature to take part in this prestigious championship,” the statement continued, in allusion to Mosley’s backing for the first World Rally Championship event in the Arab world. International Motoring Federation (FIA) president Mosley is currently in the news for taking part in sex games with five prostitutes and last week lost an attempt in a London court to force footage of the incident off the Internet as he launches a legal claim for breach of privacy.



■ BASEBALL

Yankees worth US$1.3bn

The New York Yankees’ value increased to US$1.306 billion, a rise of 9 percent over the past year, the annual estimates by Forbes magazine show. The New York Mets were second at US$824 million and the Boston Red Sox third at US$816 million, the magazine said on Wednesday. After that, there was a big gap to the Los Angeles Dodgers (US$694 million) and the Chicago Cubs (US$642 million). At the bottom, the three Major League Baseball teams with the lowest values were Florida (US$256 million), Tampa Bay (US$290 million) and Pittsburgh (US$292 million). Washington had the highest estimated operating profit at US$43.7 million.