Double MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia has said he will boycott the season finale if it goes ahead in flood-hit Valencia as planned.

The factory Ducati rider, who is currently trying to reel in Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin as he chases a third straight title, is one of several to have voiced ethical concerns about sticking to the planned Valencia venue given the current flooding and loss of life in the region.

Despite the concerns of these riders and others in the paddock at this weekend’s penultimate event in Malaysia, Autosport understands that staging the race in Valencia remains the priority for MotoGP organisers – even if this means postponing the date from the originally planned November 15-17 weekend.

Having already outlined his moral issue with a Valencia race in the pre-Malaysian Grand Prix press conference on Thursday, Bagnaia dropped the bombshell on the first day of track action at Sepang. 

Circuit Ricardo Tormo after flooding

Photo by: Paco Alcobendas

“Even at the cost of losing the ultimate goal for me, which is to win the title, I am not willing to race in Valencia,” said the Italian, who trails Martin by 17 points ahead of the Malaysian GP.

“I very much hope that they will take into consideration the fact that on an ethical level and with what is happening it is not the right thing to do.” 

Bagnaia got his weekend in Malaysia off to a perfect start on Friday by going fastest in FP1 and then ensuring his passage into Q2 by topping the times in Practice.

Martin was second-fastest in the latter session after falling in an attempt to respond to Bagnaia’s late time.

The points leader’s best lap was however just 0.050s slower than that of the man pursuing him for the title.

“All year long we’ve been neck and neck with Jorge,” reflected Bagnaia. “We are used to these fights.”

Bagnaia was then asked if leading both sessions was intended as a psychological strategy.

“It’s difficult to go out looking to finish first in both sessions on Friday,” he said. “I’ve only done it before at Assen.

“Jorge ended up crashing, but I don’t think it was because of this. There is always a bit of pressure, it’s normal. But our goal is to win, not to intimidate anyone.”

Photos from Malaysian GP Practice

With the deadline for submitting the list of players for retention for IPL 2025 ending today, all eyes are on who the 10 franchises will retain, and who will be allowed to leave.

There have been speculations like Lucknow Super Giants would not be retaining their skipper KL Rahul, or that Shubman Gill will be retained by Gujarat Titans after a pay cut. Whether these are true, or whether there will be surprises in store, will be known only later in the day once the teams submit their official lists.

ALSO READ: Will Lucknow Super Giants retain KL Rahul?

The IPL mega auction is expected to take place in November this year.

Here’s a look at the IPL retention rules, Right-To-Match card option, team budgets and more.

What is player retention in IPL?

Franchises can use direct retentions and Right-To-Match cards to retain up to six players from their last squad for the upcoming seasons either before October 31 or at the IPL mega auction.

ALSO READ: Virat Kohli to return as RCB captain?

What is the Right-To-Match (RTM) card option?

It allows a franchise to buy back their players during the mega auction. If a franchise retains no players, then it will enter the mega auction with six RTM cards; if it retains six players, then it will have no RTM cards to use at the mega auction.

ALSO READ: Rahul Dravid named Rajasthan Royals head coach

As per the revised process, after a franchise bids on a player and the previous team uses RTM to match the bid, the highest bidder is given a last chance to increase the bid before the player is awarded to the original franchise using the RTM. If the original team fails to match the increased bid, the player will be sold to the highest bidder.

How many players can each IPL team retain?

Each team can retain six players, of which a maximum of five can be Indian or overseas capped players, and a maximum of two can be uncapped Indian players. Any cricketer who has not yet made their debut for their national team across formats, is an ‘uncapped’ player.

Why is ex-India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni an ‘uncapped’ player?

Any former Indian cricketer who has not played for the country across formats for over five years and does not hold a central contract with the BCCI, will be considered an ‘uncapped’ player.

This rule, which was scrapped after the 2021 season, has been revived for the upcoming season.

What’s the total budget or auction purse for each IPL team?

The auction purse has been increased to Rs 120 crore from the Rs 100 crore that the franchises had at their disposal at last year’s IPL auction to assemble a squad of up to 25 players. The total salary cap will now comprise the auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees.

How much will it cost an IPL team to retain a player?

The costs for retaining capped players or the salary caps are as follows:

First retention: Rs 18 crore

Second retention: Rs 14 crore

Third retention: Rs 11 crore

Fourth retention: Rs 18 crore

Fifth retention: Rs 14 crore

The team will have to shell out Rs 4 crore for every uncapped Indian player retained.

It would be all too easy for Armin Schwarz to pick the Toyota Celica GT-Four as his favourite car. After all, from a career that graced the World Rally Championship podium with four different manufacturers, it was in the Group A weapon that he claimed his only WRC victory in Catalunya in 1991.

Yet the machine the German selects instead never won a WRC event. Finishing third on the Safari Rally in 2001 may have been the second-generation Skoda Octavia’s best WRC result, but Schwarz enjoyed rallying it more regardless.

Schwarz, who joined Hyundai for 2002 to develop its MSD-built Accent WRC, believes the underpowered Octavia was underrated. Certainly, as the 61-year-old acknowledges, “the Octavia never was highly rated a potential winning car from all the other teams and drivers”. But in 2001, despite a persistent lack of torque, it did muster a few giant-killing results and on occasion challenged for podiums.

“It was close in Monte Carlo, but it happened in Safari,” says Schwarz, whose co-driver throughout his time at Skoda, Manfred Hiemer, died aged 62 in 2023. “It also would have been possible in Greece [where Schwarz finished seventh despite a largely trouble-free event, power the main complaint]; the tough rallies, the car was really good.”

At Toyota, Schwarz had been cast in a supporting role to Carlos Sainz, its WRC champion in 1990. But when he joined Skoda in 1999 to drive the first iteration of the bulky Octavia, ending a hiatus that followed being abruptly dropped by Ford in 1997, Schwarz was the clear number one. Although it isn’t always reflected in the results, Schwarz reckons he reached a competitive peak from having regular seat time that he’d often lacked in stints with Toyota and Mitsubishi.

“I did all the development tests,” he says. “I was the first driver in the Octavia and so there was a lot of trust on my shoulder. It was for me a chance that I took in 2001 because I knew I can set-up the car like I need it and get all the support from the team.”

Schwarz only managed one podium in the Octavia, but has fond memories of the underdog challenger

Photo by: Sutton Images

That counted for little initially as the car’s debut in Monte Carlo was an embarrassment due to problems with its engine management software. Schwarz suffered a clutch failure on his approach to the official start ramp in Casino Square, while team-mate Pavel Sibera didn’t make the start of the first stage proper either.

A distant fifth on the Acropolis in 2000, suffering from a fever, was Schwarz’s only points score, although there were signs of progress. Bruno Thiry had placed fourth on the 1999 Rally GB, while Schwarz delivered the Czech marque’s first-ever fastest stage time on Rally Catalunya in 2000.

“It was really bad weather,” recalls Schwarz. “And I think bad weather, always the cars showed their behaviour. It was giving you a lot of trust in difficult conditions.”

“If it would not dry up on the last two stages on Sunday in Monte Carlo, still today I’m pretty confident we would be on the podium, not Francois” Armin Schwarz

It was a different story when the Evo2 edition arrived, which coincided with “developments in all the respects of the team” run by Javel Paneba. Following a few toe-in-the-water outings in 2000, Schwarz went toe-to-toe with Monte Carlo specialist Francois Delecour in a Ford Focus for the final spot on the podium in 2001’s season opener, the eventual 20.7s gap belying how close it had been for much of the final leg. Autosport noted that the performance “has to go down as one of the bravest drives of the year”.

And following his Safari heroics, setting the fastest time on the opening stage to give Skoda the lead of a WRC event for the first time and its first-ever podium, fifth on Rally GB ensured Skoda finished level on points with Hyundai – but ahead on countback.

For Schwarz, one of the Octavia’s best traits was its handling resulting from its long wheelbase. “Compared to a Peugeot, a Citroen or a Subaru, it was a quite easy car to drive,” he observes.

This was especially important in the mixed conditions of the 2001 Monte. Schwarz believes on a fully dry rally, he would have faced an uphill task to reach the points, but his prospects were transformed when snow hit. Where rival manufacturers “have been very good on full snow, or full dry”, he recognised that the Octavia could work well in conditions where compromises were necessary.

Schwarz came close to beating Delecour to the rostrum on the snowy Monte Carlo

Photo by: Ralph Hardwick

“If it would not dry up on the last two stages on Sunday in Monte Carlo, still today I’m pretty confident we would be on the podium, not Francois,” he states.

Durability was its other key upside. Schwarz’s team-mate Thiry had cause to be especially grateful for this after the farcical events of Rally Argentina. A fire engine responding to a blaze started accidentally by a spectators’ barbeque overturned and crashed into the two parked Octavias in parc ferme, with Thiry still inside his car. Skoda director Jens Pohlmann was seriously injured, and both cars were withdrawn.

Third place on the Safari was the product of extensive testing, which Schwarz says reminded him of days with Toyota – the marque having long regarded Kenya as an important priority.

“You need to have a proper testing, a good development,” he explains. “Durability is the key for success in Kenya. So the strength what we had in 2001, the car was able maybe even to win.”

Schwarz says his ploy of pushing from the 117-kilometre first stage with a time of 55m05.0s was a deliberate strategy to put rivals under pressure. “Because nobody expects to be that fast in Safari,” he says. And it worked a treat, despite a puncture on stage three that dropped him to sixth at the end of the first day.

“That was the key to speed everybody up and more or less almost everybody ran into a big problem,” Schwarz remembers. “We didn’t run into any big problem. We had a couple of smaller [problems], but we kept it very linear until the end.”

Third on the Safari was the pinnacle of Schwarz’s tenure with Skoda

Photo by: Sutton Images

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Jackline Juma is making history as the first woman to coach a men’s team in Kenya’s top flight – but is still having to cope with sexism on the touchline.

Leading FC Talanta into the new Kenyan Premier League (KPL) season, it did not take Juma long to realise that not everyone viewed her appointment as positive.

“There were some words uttered from the other bench like ‘We are not playing women’s football’,” Juma told BBC Sport Africa, discussing her second game in charge against Sofapaka.

“And I was like ‘Oh, OK. But let 90 minutes decide’.”

Juma’s side ran out 1-0 winners to silence her critics.

“After the match, of course, we did not shake hands,” she said.

“Earning three points against a very experienced coach gave me the motivation that I need to keep going.”

A Sofapaka official did not respond to a request for comment on the incident.

A 38-year-old mother of two, Juma began coaching over two decades ago and now holds the Confederation of African Football’s A license – the second-highest badge on offer on the continent.

She names Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti and Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta as her inspirations in the dugout, and aims to implement a dominant possession-based style.

While she has become a pioneer for other women to follow, at first she did not view her appointment in August through the prism of gender.

“To me, I thought it’s normal,” she said.

“It wasn’t until they talked about it being history that I realised this is big.

“Gender should not be a barrier. I told myself they’ll judge me based on what I deliver, not because I’m a female coach.”

Cokayne, who earned her first full-time Red Roses contract in 2019, will be 29 when the World Cup takes place in England in August and September next year.

A 2020-21 top-flight champion with Harlequins, the Provost Officer in the Royal Air Force has seen the sport become one requiring players to “commit your entire life to it”.

“We joke that we only get five weeks off a year and it’s all in one block,” she said.

“When I go on holiday, say, with my friends, I’ve got to do a running session four times a week and a gym session.

“They ask ‘why do you do it? we’re on holiday.’ It’s those things that differ your life.

“I’m more than happy to do that at the minute – but whether I’ll be more than happy to do that when I’m in my mid-30s, I’m not so sure.”

Having won the top division of the inaugural WXV in New Zealand in 2023, Cokayne has just returned from repeating the triumph in Canada.

“It’s still really new and finding its feet but it was really good,” she said of the three-tier competition between national teams.

“As players, the more fixtures we can get against the best teams in the world, the better.

“There was a lot of jetlag during the first week back, for sure. I was still very much living on Canada time, for a while.

“It was a bit of a shock when I came back to the dark cold of Leicester that we’ve had.”