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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
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Image: Lotto Soudal Cycling Team Facebook
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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.
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Image: Parramatta Eels Facebook
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Thousands of NSW teachers will walk off the job for 24 hours despite a government promise to address public sector wages in next month's budget.
NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos says the strike on Wednesday will go ahead as state school teachers seek pay rises of five to 7.5 per cent while struggling with their workload.
Principals have been told to advise their school communities of what impact the strikes could have, with most schools providing minimal supervision.
Mr Gavrielatos called on parents to support the industrial action to ensure their children are taught by qualified teachers, warning of an unsustainable situation in education with more than 70 per cent are considering new careers.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell on Tuesday urged the union to cancel the strike after directing her department to delay wage negotiations as part of a new teachers' award until after the June 21 budget.
Ms Mitchell said delaying wage arbitration while continuing other negotiations showed the government was working in good faith.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the government had been fair and reasonable throughout negotiations while public sector unions representing teachers, nurses, paramedics and rail workers had taken industrial action.
Describing the scheduled strike as "disappointing and ... immature", the premier defended his government's track record amid soaring inflation.
"Over the last 10 years... we've had public sector wages grow at 5.4 per cent ... Our wages in NSW for the public service have grown above inflation and above private sector," he told 2GB Radio on Tuesday.
The action was part of a political campaign by the unions to cause havoc across NSW for the benefit of the Labor Party, he said.
"They are completely politically motivated and it's not just the Teachers Federation... It's certainly aligned with the Labor Party."
"I can't guarantee the teachers will be happy where we land," the premier noted.
Opposition education spokeswoman Prue Car said the rising cost of living was the real factor driving calls for public sector wage increases, and the premier could prevent further strikes by revealing what would change after the budget.
Mr Perrottet promised to address public sector wages in the budget but also acknowledged that may not be enough to appease frontline workers.
Mr Gavrielatos said there was no guarantee the government would make good on its promise.
The union had been seeking negotiations since February last year and won't wait until it sees what's in the budget before striking.
"We have been very patient," Mr Gavrielatos said.
He dismissed temporary changes to assessment and accreditation requirements that could ease teacher workloads announced on Tuesday as "gimmickry".
Ms Car said the government needed to do more if it wanted to stop the strike.
"A last minute delay to the IRC negotiations is not going to cut it," Ms Car said.
"If Dominic Perrottet is going to find a way through this crisis with our teachers in the budget, why won't he announce it now so that this (strike) can be avoided."
The government had been warned about chronic shortages in classrooms over the last decade but not acted to fix them, Ms Car said.
Mr Gavrielatos said pay rises were needed to attract more people to the profession and to retain existing staff.
He accused the government of trying to address shortages by lowering qualifications and standards for teachers under the guise of modernising the profession.
Mr Gavrielatos declined to predict how many teachers would strike but expects a high turnout amid unprecedented anger across the profession.
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Image: Liz, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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NSW Health is reporting five more deaths from Covid19 in the 24 hour period to 4pm Saturday.
Below is the latest vaccination rates and a list of the number of people in hospital
* 96.2% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
* 94.8% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
* 62.4% of people have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine*
* 83.2% of people aged 12-15 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
* 79.5% of people aged 12-15 have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
* 50% of people aged 5-11 have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
* 1,604 hospitalisations
* 75 people in ICU
* 5 lives lost
* 9,303 positive tests: 4,607 RAT & 4,696 PCR
*Includes both immunocompromised people who have received a third dose and all people aged 16+ who have received a booster.
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