Contributed
Following up on her podium finishes at the Liga Autonomica de Féminas in Spain on Saturday, Llori Sharpe enjoyed another good day in competition on Sunday when she was second in the U23 category and seventh overall in the Trofeo Dulcinea.
Sharpe, who signed with German cycling outfit Canyon-SRAM Generation in December 2021, tells Sportsmax.TV that both she and her coach, Adam Szabo, were quite pleased with her accomplishments on the weekend.
“I'd say it went pretty well,” she said of how she performed on Sunday. “The weekend, in general, was a great way to start the season. He (Szabo) too said both races went extremely well.”
All-in-all, it was a solid start to her career but Sharpe said there is much to improve upon.
“I'd say to be more aggressive in the pack and to believe in my capabilities more,” she said about what she took away from her race on Sunday.
On Saturday, on what was her professional debut, Sharpe finished in third place in the Elite Category and second place in the Under 23 Category.
She now looks forward to her next race which comes up on the weekend.
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Llori Sharpe claims historic gold for Jamaica at the 2024 Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships
Rodri wins the Ballon d'Or: Why the Man City maestro scooped the prize
While many expected Vinicius Junior to be crowned the world's best player at Monday's Ballon d'Or ceremony, there was a late twist as Manchester City's Rodri took the prize.
The honour – considered the most prestigious individual gong in world football – comes after Rodri placed fifth in the voting for the 2023 edition, won by Lionel Messi.
Since 2022, voting for the award has been based off contenders' performances in the previous season, with Rodri rewarded for a 2023-24 campaign in which he led City to Premier League glory before shining in Spain's Euro 2024 triumph.
Here, we delve into the Opta data to see how the midfielder came to be recognised as the world's best player.
Season unbeaten
Rodri's importance to Pep Guardiola's all-conquering City side is well-established, but the 2023-24 campaign saw it made clear like never before.
City did not taste defeat in the 34 Premier League games in which Rodri featured, winning 27 and drawing seven. When Rodri was absent, they only won one of four matches, losing the other three.
The champions averaged 2.6 goals per game with Rodri involved compared to 1.5 without him, also conceding 0.9 times per outing with the Spaniard and 1.3 times without him.
They collected 2.6 points per game when Rodri featured, compared to 0.8 when he did not – that latter tally would equate to 30.4 over a full 38-game campaign, just more than 18th-placed Luton Town's tally of 26 from 2023-24.
Each of City's last four Premier League defeats have come when Rodri was absent, with the Spaniard now unbeaten in an incredible 52 top-flight appearances (42 wins, 10 draws) since a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in February 2023.
It is no wonder, then, that City were so devastated to lose him to the anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in September's 2-2 draw with Arsenal, ending his 2024-25 season prematurely.
The driving force
Rodri has long been viewed as the glue holding City's talented midfield together, but 2023-24 felt like the moment when he stepped up to become a real matchwinner.
Having decided the 2023 Champions League final in City's favour with his goal against Inter, Rodri enjoyed the most prolific season of his career last term.
His eight league goals bettered his previous best of seven from 2021-22, while he also managed nine assists – also his highest in any campaign across Europe's top five leagues.
He finished with nine goals and 13 assists across all competitions. Just Erling Haaland (38), Phil Foden (27), Julian Alvarez (19) and Bernardo Silva (12) outscored him for City, while only Kevin De Bruyne (17) registered more assists. Not bad for a defensive midfielder.
Rodri also enhanced his reputation as a big-game player with several decisive strikes, from a vital equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea to a result-clinching drive against West Ham on the final day, as City edged out Arsenal for the title.
He also did his job in terms of keeping things ticking over, setting new Premier League records (from 2003-04 onwards) for successful passes (3,359) and successful passes in the opposition’s half (2,122) in a single season.
First for City, fourth for La Roja
Rodri's Ballon d'Or triumph is the first by any City player, with Erling Haaland notably missing out to Messi in 2023. It also ends a 16-year wait for a Premier League player to claim the prize, with Cristiano Ronaldo the last to do so while with Manchester United in 2008.
Having been named Player of the Tournament as Spain claimed a record-breaking fourth European crown at Euro 2024, Rodri also made his mark on the international stage.
He is the first Spanish player to win football's top individual honour since 1960, and just the third to do so overall.
Real Madrid icon Alfredo Di Stefano won the prize twice after switching allegiance from Argentina, in 1957 and 1959.
This year's award was also notable for the absence of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo from the 30-man shortlist, and Rodri is just the third player from outside that duo to claim the trophy since 2008, alongside Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2022.
He and Modric are the only non-attackers, meanwhile, to triumph since 2007, when Kaka edged out Ronaldo and Messi to be recognised as the world's best.
Morata predicts bright future for 'special' Spain after Serbia triumph
Alvaro Morata expressed his excitement about the future of the Spanish national team after they confirmed their place in the Nations League quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Morata netted Spain's second goal in their 3-0 win over Serbia, having missed a penalty 11 minutes earlier, with Aymeric Laporte and Alex Baena also on target for La Roja.
Luis de la Fuente's side have now won 12 of their 15 matches in all competitions this year (D2 L1), equalling their most victories in a single calendar year since 2013.
Despite missing seven of their regular first-team players, including the likes of Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Dani Olmo, Spain made light work of Dragan Stojkovic's side in Cordoba.
And their latest victory has captain Morata looking forward to the future, with the Milan striker confident of building on their Euro 2024 success.
"We are in another final stage of a major tournament and that is something to be proud of," captain Morata told Spanish public television TVE.
"It seems easy because we are always there in the final stages but sure it isn't so we have to understand how special it is and give it the proper value it has.
"We have several injured players, we missed them but we have to look at the positives that are young players stepping up.
"What we have created is special, and we have to keep going forward. Spain has an incredible future."
De la Fuente, however, was more measured in his assessment of proceedings.
The Spain manager watched on as his side registered 30 shots, 10 of which were on target, ending the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.92.
They also restricted Serbia to just one attempt throughout, though De la Fuente insisted he still wants to see improvements from his players.
"Blessed problem. God willing that it continues like this for a long time. When you have a lot of winning streaks you are closer to losing than winning," De la Fuente said.
"We are not satisfied. This team is insatiable sportingly, it wants more and more. We do it with so much joy, we already enjoy it so much that it is difficult not to be like that.
"Let's try to see how far we go. When it is not achieved, one day it will not be achieved, because we will have to understand that this is how sport is.
"We will begin another cycle. Whoever wants to beat us will have to do very well."
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