CYCLING: Cyclocross world champion Matthieu van der Poel won his first race of the season on the sands of Zonhoven in eastern Belgium on Sunday afternoon. Van der Poel finished a minute and a half ahead of Thibau Nys with Joran Wyesure a further three seconds back in third. Dominican Republic-born rider Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado won the women’s race, five seconds clear of Wales’s Zoe Backstedt with Lucinda Brand third.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Sheffield’s Georgia Gayle top-scored with 27 points but ended up on the losing side as the Hatters went down 79-72 to new Super League leaders Oaklands Wolves, who extended their unbeaten streak to six games. Newcastle won 80-45 at Cardiff Met, Danni Williams sank 32 points as third-placed Manchester thumped Durham 106-50 and Essex comfortably saw off bottom of the table London 82-58.

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY: Tyler Busch, Kohen Olischefski and Cole Sanford all netted twice as the Cardiff Devils came from 4-0 down to beat Nottingham 6-4 and make it through to the last four of the Challenge Cup. Eight-time winners Nottingham will get another chance at progressing when they face Glasgow in the “play-in” game. Belfast and cup holders Sheffield are the other teams already through to the semi-finals.

MEN’S RUGBY UNION: Leinster lead the United Rugby Championship by six points after they saw off Connacht 20-12 to maintain their 100 per cent record. Second-placed Glasgow scored five tries to overwhelm Edinburgh 33-14 on Sunday but the Pretoria-based Bulls lost ground after going down 20-17 to the Sharks in Durban. Zebre slipped second bottom following their 12-11 loss at Treviso and Ospreys’ last-minute 23-22 win over the Scarlets.