Cycling: Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski timed his attack to perfection to beat the top favourites and claim gold in the men’s elite race at the road cycling world championships yesterday. Kwiatkowski attacked just before the final climb, caught the four breakaway riders in front of him and quickly dropped them, crossing the line with a one-second advantage over a group of chasers. Among them was pre-race favourite Simon Gerrans of Australia, who finished second ahead of Spain’s Alejandro Valverde.

Rugby Union: Captain Richie McCaw equalled a record for All Blacks appearances as the world champions sealed their third successive Rugby Championship title with a 34-13 victory over Argentina in La Plata. The All Blacks earned a bonus point by scoring four tries through Ben Smith, Israel Dagg, Julian Savea and TJ Perenara while Beauden Barrett kicked 14 points. The win gave the All Blacks an unassailable six-point lead over South Africa with a match to play.

Tennis: Reigning French Open champion Maria Sharapova, former world number one Venus Williams and Australian Samantha Stosur sailed into the second round of the China Open with straight set victories yesterday. Fourth seeded Sharapova downed Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-4 6-1 in 90 minutes. Sixteenth seeded Williams shrugged off a slow start to overcome Heather Watson 6-3 6-1 in their first encounter. Stosur beat Francesca Schiavone 6-4 6-2 to set up a second round clash against former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

Boxing: Paul Smith produced the performance of his life only to be denied by a hugely controversial points defeat to Arthur Abraham in their WBO super-middleweight title fight in Kiel. The 31-year-old from Liverpool shocked his opponent with a display of real guts and no little class, but got no reward from the judges. Abraham was given an unanimous points victory, the scores 117-111, 117-111, 119-109, but those scores in no way reflected how tight the fight was.