For the first time in a long time, the new MotoGP season promises a wide-open title race.
Marc Marquez's standing at the top of the sport has long been undisputed, but injury robbed him of his 2020 campaign and allowed Joan Mir to profit.
A response from Marquez this year has to be expected, but he will not be fit in time for the Qatar double-header that begins the season.
The first of the two Losail International Circuit races comes on Sunday, when Marquez's rivals will be looking to send a message to the absent superstar ahead of another intriguing title tussle.
MIR A THREAT TO MARQUEZ?
The 2020 championship would typically make Mir the man to beat in 2021, but Marquez is the bookmakers' favourite, even as he prepares to sit out the start of the season.
Prior to last season, when he appeared in only the first grand prix, Marquez had six titles in seven years.
The Repsol Honda rider will be confident, too, that his delayed recovery will not negatively impact his challenge. This will be the 14th time the campaign has started in Qatar but only four of the previous 13 race winners – most recently Marquez in 2013 – have gone on to top the standings at the end of the year.
Indeed, it is not an event Marquez will mind missing too much, with just one win in seven appearances at the Qatar Grand Prix.
If he can return swiftly afterwards, however, his rivals will have reason to fear. Excluding four abandonments, Marquez has finished first (16 times) or second (eight) in his past 24 races.
Mir's sole previous appearance at Qatar does not suggest he will be able to forge an early lead either, having finished eighth in 2018.
But the defending champion made the podium in seven of his final 11 races in 2020 to clinch the title, Suzuki Ecstar's first riders' championship since 2000.
CHALLENGERS TO THE CHAMPIONS
Mir was the man who went away with the title as Marquez missed out, but he was not alone in pursuit of the six-time champion's crown.
Petronas Yamaha's Franco Morbidelli was second last year, just 13 points back, and finished the campaign with two wins in four races, as well as consecutive podiums to end the season.
Jack Miller, now of the factory Ducati team, joined Morbidelli on the podium on both occasions and is being counted among the contenders despite never finishing higher than seventh over the course of a season in this category.
Morbidelli's team-mate last year Fabio Quartararo has moved to the Yamaha factory team after a disappointing 2020, but he has shown just what a threat he can be early in the year, starting with back-to-back victories last time out.
And while Marquez and Mir at least do not have to worry about Andrea Dovizioso, taking a one-year sabbatical, the Honda man might find competition a little closer to home.
New team-mate Pol Espargaro earned his move with five podiums in his past 10 races after only one in the previous 109.
THE OLD AND THE NEW
Marquez could join Valentino Rossi on seven titles, behind only Giacomo Agostini (eight) in the 500cc class, with another championship – and the Italian is highly unlikely to play any part in stopping him.
With Marquez out of the picture, veteran Rossi slumped to a career-worst 15th place in the standings last season, with only a single podium – his lowest return since 2011.
That disappointing campaign brought an end to the 42-year-old's second stint with the Yamaha factory team.
Rossi will instead ride for Petronas Yamaha, where he needs just one more podium to become the first 500cc/MotoGP rider to the 500 mark.
At the other end of the spectrum, Luca Marini, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin are debutants.
There were three new men in 2020, too, although with Esponsorama Racing pair Marini and Bastianini, this is the first year since 2013 (Andrea Ianone and Claudio Corti) there will be two Italians making their bow in the same year.
Klaasen masterclass sees South Africa coast in third ODI to tie series
Heinrich Klaasen brilliantly took the third ODI away from West Indies with his unbeaten century to give South Africa a four-wicket win and tie the three-match series.
Klaasen scored 119 off just 61 deliveries, completing a routine victory with three consecutive boundaries.
There were still 123 balls remaining, with South Africa's number five batter having accelerated the scoring just as the tourists had recovered some hope at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.
The Windies were all out for 260, losing their way after a strong start from Brandon King (72) lifted them to 110-1 in the 19th over.
King contributed to his team's downfall when he chose not to run and left partner Shamarh Brooks (18) stranded, slipping in the middle of the pitch for a run out that triggered a steady stream of Windies wickets.
It was still no sure thing the Proteas would chase down their target despite scoring at a good rate, losing four wickets inside 13 overs – including that of captain Aiden Markram for 25.
Yet Klaasen came to the fore, bringing up his hundred off just 54 balls to swiftly bring the finish line into sight.
A showstopping finale saw poor Yannic Cariah punished, conceding 49 runs off only three and a half overs as the Windies' hopes of a rare series win against South Africa were wiped out.
Windies' wait for series win goes on
West Indies have not beaten South Africa in a multi-game ODI series since April 1992, but this represented a real opportunity, leading 1-0 ahead of the final match after the opener was abandoned without a ball bowled.
A failure to capitalise on competitive starts to both innings extended that wait, although the Windies at least ended South Africa's run of seven straight series victories.
Klaasen crashes six after six
Coming into this match, South Africa had hit only 70 sixes in ODIs since the start of last year, compared to 143 for West Indies over the same period.
But Klaasen alone matched the Windies in that regard on Tuesday, smashing five maximums – as many as the entire touring team – to go with 15 fours in South Africa's fourth-fastest ODI century.
Will Still harbours Premier League ambition and may follow Vincent Kompany route
Will Still has ambitions to manage in the Premier League and would be open to following a similar route to Vincent Kompany by moving to a Championship club.
The 30-year-old has been one of the most talked about coaches in European football this season after doing a fine job with Ligue 1 side Reims.
Taking over from Oscar Garcia in October, Reims embarked on a club-record 19-game unbeaten league run until a 2-1 reverse at home to Marseille on Sunday – with Still taking charge for 17 of those.
Still, whose only other defeat as boss was in the Coupe de France, was brought up by English parents in Belgium before moving to England as a teenager where he studied to become a coach.
His name was mentioned for recent managerial posts at Leeds United and Southampton and, while he believes it is too soon to have been touted for such positions, Still would love a crack at England's top flight one day.
"It just seems completely stupid to me that my name is being put up against names that have done so much more and have been so many more places than I have," he told Sky Sports.
"I wouldn't ever dare to compare myself to those people.
"I've never really thought about it [managing in the Premier League] because I never expected to be in the position I am so early and so suddenly. Why not? I've done some crazy things in the past; I was head coach at 24 and the same thing happened at 28 back in Belgium and now I'm 30 and people are saying this is crazy.
"Being English and growing up in an English environment in Belgium, England has always felt like home and a place that I'd love to go back to. It would feel like coming home, just because the English culture is part of me, part of my roots, part of my family, part of who I am.
"I think if you asked any kid what they would like to do, they'd say they'd love to be a Premier League footballer or manager and I'm no different. I was brought up like everyone else and had the same dreams. I'll keep at them.
"If it happens one day I'll deserve it, or I hope I will have deserved it, but I realise how much work there is to do before I get there and how much I've got to learn. For now, I will stick it to one side."
Up until recently, Reims were having to pay a €25,000 fine every time Still took charge of the first team as he did not have a UEFA Pro Licence, but he is now on a course to get his badge.
Still believes that has amplified the interest in his story along with a comment he once made about the popular computer game Football Manager, that he says was misinterpreted.
"With the Football Manager thing, for example – people think I'm some spotty geek behind my computer that's just been dropped in at Stade de Reims and is doing an unbelievable job," he explained. "But I've been doing it for 10 years and the experiences I've accumulated or tried to accumulate have helped me and are still helping me today.
"People say, 'Oh, he's got no coaching badges, no qualifications, he's just played computer games!' I went to university to study football coaching, I've got the highest level diploma you can get, for the moment, in football and I'm studying for the Pro Licence."
In terms of the future, Still remains open to different career paths and mentioned how former Manchester City captain Kompany has excelled with Championship leaders Burnley after leaving Anderlecht as a potential example to follow.
"Vincent Kompany was at Anderlecht last year and has gone into the Championship and has done an unbelievable job. I think the Championship rivals many of the top leagues in the world," he said.
"All the doors are open. I'm not closing anything at any time."
'Shame to waste that performance' - Knicks rue loss as Randle makes franchise history in 57-point haul
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau says it was a "shame to waste" Julius Randle's 57-point performance in Monday's 140-134 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Randle produced a career-best scoring performance, shooting 19-of-29 from the field with eight-of-14 from three-point range, becoming the 13th different player this NBA season to surpass 50 points.
The power forward scored 26 points in the third quarter, making franchise history for the most points ever by a Knicks player in any single quarter.
Randle also became the first player Knicks since Carmelo Anthony in 2014 to reach 50 points, which was the longest active drought by any franchise, except the Orlando Magic dating back to Tracy McGrady in 2004.
Only two players have scored more points in a single game in Knicks history, led by Anthony with 62 in 2014 against the Charlotte Bobcats and Bernard King with 60 in 1984 against the New Jersey Nets. Randle's 57 points was tied for third highest in Knicks history.
Despite all that, the Timberwolves edged the Knicks, aided by 58.3 per cent three-point shooting.
"It's a shame to waste a performance like that," Thibodeau told reporters.
Randle had 52 points at three-quarter time and was on pace to surpass both Anthony and King's marks but he was humbled to be close to their company.
"Those are legends in this game," Randle said. "And pioneers, specifically for this organisation, who laid the groundwork and led the way for players like myself to come behind them, be able to play the game I love. Be able to grind, put on that Knicks jersey with pride."
Randle was left to lament fumbling a rebound at 137-134 in the dying seconds, allowing Taurean Prince to make a lay-up to ice the game.
"Hopefully I will be able to [enjoy the 57-point performance]," Randle said. "But tonight, probably not.
"Jalen [Brunson] got a defensive stop, we're down three, it's my job to come up with that rebound, 14 seconds left. If we do that, we have a chance to win the game - or not win the game, but at least tie the game, so I didn't get the job done."
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