Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - An early breakaway paid dividends for New Zealand National Team rider Regan Gough when he was rewarded with a stage three victory in the New Zealand Cycle Classic.

Racing in hot conditions in Wairarapa on Friday, Gough outsprinted Kiwi Velo's Hayden McCormick and Coupland's Bakeries/Booth's Transport Group rider Glenn Haden to win the 127km stage.

Black Spoke's Luke Mudgway finished 18 seconds back in the main bunch to retain the yellow jersey.

Race director Jorge Sandoval said it was the first time in this stage's history that the peloton had not caught the breakaway.

Saturday's fourth and penultimate 127km stage included a hilltop finish on Admiral Hill in Gladstone, and Sandoval said whoever won this stage was most likely going to be the overall tour winner.

The NZ Cycle Classic concluded in Wellington on Sunday with a city circuit race around Lambton Quay.

Robinson heads World Championship Ski team

A four person team headed by Alice Robinson has been selected to represent New Zealand at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Italy next month.

Robinson, Piera Hudson, Willis Feasey and Jack Adams have been selected to compete at Cortina d'Ampezzo between February 7th and 21st.

Individual event entries will be confirmed next week, but Snow Sports NZ Head of Alpine Jono Howson has indicated the following entries are likely:

Alice Robinson - Alpine Combined, Super G, Giant Slalom and Parallel.

Piera Hudson - Giant Slalom, Slalom and Parallel.

Willis Feasey - Super G and Giant Slalom.

Jack Adams - Giant Slalom, Slalom and Parallel.

Robinson stunned the Alpine World when she won the Soelden FIS World Cup Giant Slalom season opener in 2019 when she was just 17 years old.

Hudson made waves in 2018 when she became the first Kiwi alpine athlete to achieve a top 30 result and score World Cup Slalom points in fifteen years.

Feasey, who competed in Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super G at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, brings over thirteen years of FIS racing experience to the team.

Adams, who has recently achieved his seasons best score of 43.00 at a FIS Slalom race in Hochfuegen, Austria, rounds out the Kiwi team.

NZ football officials a step closer to World Cup

Two New Zealanders have made the latest cut to officiate at the Fifa Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

New Zealand Football's 2020 Women's Referee of the Year Anna-Marie Keighley and 2020 Women's Assistant Referee of the Year Sarah Jones have been named on the 56 and 100-strong shortlists, from an initial pool of over 750 referees and assistant referees.

Making this shortlist represents the beginning of a three-year process to being named on the final officials list for the 2023 tournament, during which shortlisted candidates are required to fulfil a range of FIFA criteria.

Both Keighley and Jones have significant experience on the global stage.

Keighley held the whistle at both the 2015 and 2019 World Cups and made history at the 2017 under-17 men's World Cup as a part of the first group of female officials at an all-male tournament.

Jones was the first New Zealand woman to be named an assistant referee in the A-League back in 2016. She was also involved in the 2016 Olympics and the 2019 World Cup.

Arsenal-Palace draw

Arsenal's recent resurgence in the English Premier football League was checked by Crystal Palace as they were held to a dull 0-0 draw at the Emirates.

Mikel Arteta's side were bidding for a fourth successive league win but could find no way through an obdurate Palace.

Palace were well worth their point and were the better side in the first half in which defender James Tomkins hit the bar and Christian Benteke went close.

Arsenal controlled the second half but lacked spark and rarely troubled Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

The north Londoners remained in 11th spot in the standings with 24 points from 18 games with Palace two places lower with 23 points.

-Reuters

Murray out of Australian Open

Former world number one Andy Murray is doubtful for next month's Australian Open after organisers confirmed that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Murray, 33, was awarded a wildcard by organisers to play in the main draw of the year's first Grand Slam in Melbourne.

"Andy Murray has advised that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and is isolating at home in the UK," Tennis Australia said in a statement.

"Unfortunately this means he will be unable to join the official AO charter flights arriving in Australia in the coming days to go through the quarantine period with the other players."

British media reported that Murray was in good health and still hoped to compete at Melbourne Park in the hardcourt major, which has been pushed back three weeks and will start on 8 February due to strict pandemic health measures in Australia.

However, even if Murray recovers soon, it will be difficult for him to make it to Australia later as players and officials must arrive during a 36-hour window from Thursday and then serve a mandatory isolation of 14 days as per health protocols.

American Madison Keys will miss the season-opening grand slam after she returned a positive test.

- Reuters

Ferrari driver self-isolating at home

Ferrari Formula One driver Charles Leclerc has announced he has tested positive for Covid-19 and was self-isolating at home in Monaco with mild symptoms.

The 23-year-old said he was feeling okay.

"I am regularly checked according to my team's protocols. Unfortunately, I learned that I have been in contact with a positive case and immediately went into self-isolation, notifying anyone I had contact with," he said on Instagram.

"A subsequent test I took has come back positive," he added.

"I will remain in isolation in my home in Monaco in compliance with the regulations set by the local health authorities."

He is the fifth F1 driver known to have tested positive for Covid-19 after Mexican Sergio Perez, Canadian Lance Stroll, Britain's seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.

- Reuters

England dominate day one of first test in Galle

England captain Joe Root struck his 50th test fifty to put them in a strong position on the first day of the opening test after Dom Bess took five wickets as the tourists bowled out Sri Lanka for a paltry 135.

An unbeaten 110-run partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Root saw England to 127-2 at stumps, trailing by eight runs, with the opportunity to go on and build a significant lead after Sri Lanka posted the lowest first-innings score in a test at the Galle International Stadium.

The pair steadied matters after spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, who opened the bowling, had removed England openers Dom Sibley (4) and Zak Crawley (9) cheaply.

Root, in his 98th test, survived a leg before decision when on 20, which was overturned on review, before reaching his half century off 94 balls. He will resume on Friday on 66 with Bairstow playing a strong supporting role with 47 not out.

Bess took 5-30 off just 10.1 overs with strong back-up from Stuart Broad (3-20) as the home side failed to take advantage of winning the toss with some wayward batting.

Dinesh Chandimal, who took over the captaincy from injured Dimuth Karunaratne, top scored for the hosts with 28.

- Reuters

Yellow jersey changes hands in Masterton

Luke Mudgway is the new leader of the New Zealand Cycle Classic.

The Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy rider has won the 158km second stage in Masterton, finishing 17 seconds clear of the chasing peloton.

Mudgway is now 15 seconds clear in the general classification.

Corbin Strong, who finished second on the stage, is now second overall, with Mudgway's team-mate Aaron Gate a further 10 seconds back in third.

Regan Gough, who wore yellow on stage two, has slipped to 22nd overall, almost one and a half minutes behind Mudgway.

Peterhansel on the verge of 14th Dakar Rally title

French veteran Stephane Peterhansel is one stage away from a record-extending 14th Dakar triumph after ending the penultimate day in Saudi Arabia with a 15-minute lead over Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Toyota's Al-Attiyah, who had said on Wednesday that the event would be decided on the shortened 464km stage from Al-Ula to Yanbu, won the day but Peterhansel kept him in check with the second fastest time.

"There's only one day to go. It's time to cross fingers and hope that we will be in first place at the end," said Peterhansel, whose record 13 previous wins came on both motorcycles and in cars.

Friday's final 200km stage to Jeddah features chains of dunes before reaching the shores of the Red Sea but offers less scope for Al-Attiyah to close the gap unless his ever-consistent rival hits problems.

"It's exactly like last year, we are really struggling with the tyres," said the Qatari, a triple Dakar winner, after clawing back a minute and 56 seconds from Peterhansel to secure his sixth stage win of the event.

- Reuters