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Australian sprint star Caleb Ewan has suffered a dramatic and painful crash in the final metres of the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia in Hungary while battling for victory.

Ewan had almost emptied his tank of energy as he tried to make his final attack over the last 100 metres on the demanding final climb to the finish in Visegrad on Friday.

But still threatening in third place while trying to take victory and the leader's pink jersey, he clipped the back wheel of Eritrean Biniam Girmay's bike just ahead, which sent him crashing down hard across the road at high speed.

The Dutch stage favourite Mathieu van der Poel went on to pip Girmay for victory while Lotto-Soudal's Ewan, with his top torn around his left shoulder, eventually rose groggily, remounted and grimaced as he needed assistance to struggle across the line in 76th place, 64 seconds behind.

It was more grim Grand Tour news for the Sydneysider, who broke his collarbone in a crash on the third stage of the Tour de France in 2021 which knocked him out of the race.

Friday's crash, though, was thankfully not as serious, with his team reporting: "Apart from several abrasions, Caleb came away without any severe injuries and will take the start in the individual time trial tomorrow."

But his spill seemed a cruel reward for the 27-year-old, who may not have won his 12th Grand Tour stage anyway but who'd still performed magnificently to even be in the podium picture after a 5.7km final ascent which proved far too much for all the other best sprinters.

Yet it was a finale to the 195km stage from Budapest perfectly designed for Alpecin-Fenix's brilliant allrounder van der Poel, who, on his Giro debut, timed his thrust perfectly to add the pink jersey to the yellow he wore early in his first Tour de France last summer.

After over four and a half hours in the saddle, Spain's Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) cashed in on Ewan's fall to take third place.

Van der Poel, grandson of the late French cycling hero Raymond Poulidor who's proved a master on the roads, cyclo-cross and mountain biking, said afterwards: "It's incredible after the yellow jersey to have the pink and now we will see what the time trial brings tomorrow."

Van der Poel may well win Saturday's 9.2km effort against the clock in Budapest too.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old trailblazer Girmay, the first Black African rider to win a one-day classic earlier in the season at Gent Wevelgem, nearly became the first to win a Grand Tour stage too as he collected the first white jersey for best young rider.

"I've never done a sprint like it," said the Eritrean. "For 250, 300 metres I am at the limit. I fully accept he was stronger than me today but I'm really happy."

The uphill finish did create some small time gaps, with 2019 champion Richard Carapaz, Wilco Kelderman and Bauke Mollema among those to pick up four seconds on the other general classification contenders, including Aussie team BikeExchange-Jayco's British leader Simon Yates.

2020 Giro runner-up Jai Hindley, in 28th, was also four seconds down, two places ahead of Australian compatriot Richie Porte.

With AP

© AAP 2022

Brad Arthur has declared Parramatta's 22-20 win over Penrith as his proudest as Eels coach after his side ended the Panthers' record home run at Bluebet Stadium.

With counterpart Ivan Cleary watching on from his hospital bed with an infected knee, Arthur's Eels came back from 14-10 down with 15 minutes to play on Friday.

It marked the Panthers' first loss of the season, in a ferocious western-Sydney derby that was not without controversy and came down to a missed Nathan Cleary two-point penalty goal in the final minute.

The result snapped Penrith's 21-match winning streak at home, the longest of any side in the NRL-era and one that stretched back to July 2019 when lockdown-inducing pandemics were a thing for Hollywood movies.

COVID again played its part on Friday, with Penrith assistant Cameron Circaldo sidelined by the virus and having to shout out defensive calls over the phone into the coaching box.

Ivan Cleary also spoke to stand-in man Andrew Webster around four times through the game, after undergoing surgery on Friday morning.

In reality, no matter who Penrith had in the coaching box, it wouldn't have made much difference to the result.

"I said to the players after the game, in nine years now I think it's the proudest I have been in my time at the club," Arthur said.

"On the back of four six-day turnarounds. These guys (Penrith) are a very good football team that haven't been beaten out here for a while.

"We've only got 19 guys from our full-time squad available, five guys couldn't train during the week because they're crook.

"It was a great effort."

A week after being flogged by North Queensland in Darwin's heat, Clint Gutherson was brilliant for Parramatta while Junior Paulo and Isaiah Papali'i were big in the middle.

And crucially, when it mattered most the Eels were able to take their chances.

Leading 14-10 with with 18 minutes left and after dominating the second-half tug-of-war, the Panthers made an uncharacteristic mistake with James Fisher-Harris putting the ball down on halfway after a set restart.

It took the visitors just four minutes to capitalise, with Gutherson putting Ryan Matterson through a hole to give the Eels an unlikely lead.

And when Dylan Edwards let a Mitch Moses bomb bounce on the next set and Dylan Brown chased through to score, Parramatta led 22-14.

Penrith hit back through Spencer Leniu with two minutes to play, but Cleary's missed shot from outside 40 sealed Penrith's fate.

"The boys are disappointed. They want to win every game," Webster said.

"They also know we're not going to be perfect all season and forever."

Earlier, Will Penisini had put Gutherson over for the Eels' opener, before the controversy began.

Parramatta were awarded a penalty try when Jaeman Salmon held Reed Mahoney back close to the line, with the Eels hooker falling just short as he collected an offload.

Penrith then hit back on halftime to make it 10-10, but only after referee Gerard Sutton inexplicably missed a clear Viliame Kikau knock-on.

From the next play Kikau was able to kick for Taylan May to score, with the second-rower also putting his winger over with a deft ball early in the second half.

Kikau was superb throughout with a key charge down before May's second try, and while Brian To'o and Moses Leota also impressed on return, the Panthers' streak was still ended.

© AAP 2022

Authorities on Mexico's Caribbean coast have issued an alert for a missing Australian woman whose two-year-old daughter was found wandering alone in the resort city of Cancun.

Prosecutors in the coastal state of Quintana Roo said Tahnee Shanks, 32, was last seen on Monday in Cancun.

There was no immediate information on how she became separated from her daughter.

But on Thursday, prosecutors also issued a missing persons alert for the girl's father, Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo, a Mexican citizen.

Aguirre Astudillo is also 32 and was also last heard from Monday.

According to a GoFundMe page set up in the name of the family of Tahnee Shanks, Aguirre Astudillo is believed to have dropped the child near a church in Cancun.

The girl was apparently taken into the care of child welfare authorities.

According to her Facebook profile, Shanks, from Conway Beach, Queensland, had been trying to get back to Australia.

Her plans were apparently delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Shanks wrote in May 2021: "I can't come back to Australia till mid 2022!!! My baby girl will be 2 1/2 years old and hasn't even met her grandad, uncles, great gran, cousins."

© AP 2022