hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: geraint thomas extends his lead in the tour de france as the finish line nears. serena williams claims discrimination, saying she's the most drug tested american tennis player. and england name their team on thursday for the opening test against the top—ranked india. hello and welcome to the programme where with four stages to go at the tour de france, geraint thomas has control of the race. he's now almost two minutes clear of the dutchman tom domoulin — while the defending champion chris froome has slipped to third overall. wednesday's mountain stage was won by colombia's nairo quintana — but thomas finished 3rd to extend his overall lead. we thought stage 17 might be a decisive one. short and 65 kilometres, but packed with three brutal climes of. it may well turn

out to be that way. geraint thomas, third on the stage on a day that was w011 third on the stage on a day that was won by nairo quintana, but thomas putting time into his rivals, particularly his teammate chris froome. we thought this might be the toughest test —— test yet of his credential, he passed that test with flying colours. he truly did. the waiting sky road that final climb was pretty much to perfection. acra one only had to look out, really, for tom domoulin. tom domoulin, who we nt for tom domoulin. tom domoulin, who went on the attack at one point but he was straight on him. he looks so sharp. so much that yes, third on the stage, but more importantly, taking his advantage over what is potentially the better time trialist, 20 seconds more. so he is onlyjust under two trialist, 20 seconds more. so he is only just under two minutes trialist, 20 seconds more. so he is onlyjust under two minutes now, one minute 59, his advantage over tom domoulin, who has jumped minute 59, his advantage over tom domoulin, who hasjumped up to second place as chris froome has

faded a little bit. we have seen some wonderful ride from geraint thomas before, this is a man who has w011 thomas before, this is a man who has won two olympic gold medals. but we are noticing something like this, this sort of continual dominance in the high mountains. the last time we would have had a good look at this would have had a good look at this would have had a good look at this would have been last year in italy. this is the issue he has had, it is not his form, keeping the bike upright on the tarmac and the road. that is why i won't mention what potentially could happen over the next few stages because there is quite a queue down hills, twist and turns, but as it stands at the moment, the strongest man at the moment, the strongest man at the moment is the welshman, tom domoulin. —— geraint thomas. serena williams says she's happy to do whatever she can to keep tennis clean but maybe there's a limit. the american has accused anti—doping authorities of discrimination after getting tested again on tuesday. the 23—time major winner has been tested more than any other player this year according to figures

from the us anti—doping agency. here's what's williams has posted on social media. the new arsenal manager unai emery says he wants the club to feel "like home" for mesut ozil. the german midfielder retired from international football this week, citing "racism and disrespect", after he was photographed with president erdogan of turkey. ozil is now on a pre—season tour of singapore with arsenal, and has the support of his team—mates and manager. asa team, as a team, we support him and try to make sure that he feels good, that he can train and perform at his best. that is all we can do and his

decision is his decision and we have to respect that, everybody should respect it. he explained his decision, i respect and help. here, we need to help him. for us, we need to help all the players and help mesut, to feel here are, with us, like his home. liverpool are in action against premier league champions manchester city at present, they're playing a pre season friendly in the international champions cup in newjeresy. their managerjurgen klopp says he doesn't care about being under increased pressure to win a trophy this season — even though they've spent around $225 million on four new players. the anfield club have signed goalkeeper alisson and midfielders naby keita, fabinho and xherdan shaqiri since the end of last season, when they finished 25 points behind city and lost to real madrid in the champions league final. the pressure is coming from outside,

probably increasing, i don't care about that. we want to play the best foot all that we can play and we wa nt to foot all that we can play and we want to make all the fans happy. that is it. what others say, i don't care. cani that is it. what others say, i don't care. can i promised next year any silverware? of course not, how could i? but we will fight for it, that is what we have promised. i read somewhere a statistic that we had seven games in the lead and then in the end it was a draw. so in my little rain, that is 1a points, or we are 25 points away from manchester city, that is 11. i am not a dreamer. eyed entry and that we can be here or there, but that is

0k, we can be here or there, but that is ok, we have to build the ground for these teams, we need to play foot wall and put all his 80% of the season wall and put all his 80% of the season the hardest work is in the 90, and the rest you go through in five minutes. that his foot all. you watch a game like this, allow, what is that? —— wow. you all cannot avoid writing stories about it, pointing the finger, mistakes, this is a mistake, you cannot. nobody really believed the thing, what happened in kiev, but it is 100% truth, he had a concussion but the world out there is not interested. can this period make him stronger? 100% yes and we will try to help him with it. ajax and celtic both won the first

legs of their latest champions league qualifiers. ajax scored a goal in each half as they beat thje austrian side sturm graz 2—0. while odsonne edouard scored twice as celtic came from behind to beat rosenborg of norway 3—1. there were two more games at the women's hockey world cup on wednesday — and they included another win for germany. charlotte stapenhorst scored twice as they beat argentina 3—2 — to move to the brink of the quarter—finals. that's two wins out of two for the germans. in pool b, the host nation england were held to a second successive 1—1 draw, this time by the usa, who've been eliminated. the home side's goal was scored by captain alex danson who was playing her 200th game for england. of course it is very special, but this is a team game, you cannot play the game without your teammates, you cannot score any goals without someone passing cannot score any goals without someone passing you the ball and you can't be on the field without another 15 people with you. i am obviously very grateful, this is for

every player i have played with, every player i have played with, every coach i have worked with and every coach i have worked with and every volu nteer every coach i have worked with and every volunteer that has got me to this point. there's an important series on the horizon for england's cricketers. the first of 5 test matches against india begins next wednesday at edgbaston so the question at this point is about personnel, with trevor bayliss and england's selectors naming their squad on thursday. our sports reporter patrick gearey has been looking at what may happen. i think the main debate is about the spin department. adil rashid is the legspinner which gave up playing four and five day cricket to focus on limited overs cricket. he was so good at that that they might bring him back to five day cricket. and might stick with what they know. acting spin bowling will be really important in this series of. unless we get a lot of rain in the next few days, the pictures will be dry and that means will spend and we know india are traditionally very strong in that area. india are the top test tea m in that area. india are the top test team in the world they have this block when it turns to coming to england. last time they lost 3—1, the time before, or— zero. they have

a problem within which conditions, they might not have a problem with that given how this summer is going. the english team are the top one—day tea m the english team are the top one—day team in the world, but many of the players have been disappointed. losing to australia, new zealand and pakistan. there are so many points to prove. the weather is good, great atmosphere with full houses, the indian community in the uk coming out to give noisy support and as you say, we are currently see five test matches outside the ashes. this drama will have plenty of space and time to unravel and show everything. the football season is nearly upon us. the football season is nearly upon us. a few friendly matches which are being played. the liverpool match against manchester city at present is goalless. juventus are on the verge of beating bayern munich in philadelphia and in california, just over two hours

manchester united take on milan in california. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the world sportsday team, goodbye. good morning. if you think it's been hot enough already this summer, well, just wait for the next couple of days because it looks like it's going to turn even hotter. some spots could get to 36 degrees and that brings with it the chance of some thunderstorms and welcome rain and you can see from the satellite picture, a couple of different areas of low pressure spilling out into the atlantic as they approach our shores. we will eventually see some wet weather but ahead of that, drawing this very hot air up from the south. we start thursday morning in double digits just about wherever you are, parts of the south—east starting the day up around 20 degrees

and as we go through the day, a lot of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. more on the way of cloud spreading up from south. small chance we might break out the odd shower into the afternoon. a bit more cloud into the west as well, into the western side of northern ireland, a bit cooler here. down towards the south—east, look at these temperatures. 3a degrees in the heart of london but for some in the south—east, maybe 35 degrees. but the building heat and humidity, it looks like we will see some showers and thunderstorms starting to break out across the eastern half of the country, particularly as we head into the early hours of friday. thickening cloud and outbreaks of rain starting to trickle across northern ireland. a warm and muggy start to friday. during friday, this rain band tracking in from the west. then we see these thunderstorms blossoming to life across parts of south—east england, the east midlands, maybe eastern

scotland. these are the areas most prone to vicious downpours. perhaps even some disruption. to the far east of the country, that is where we might get all the way up to 36 degrees. however, we push these various bands of rain and thunderstorms to the east as we get into the start of the weekend. then we start to tap into some much fresher air, these green and even blue colours blowing in our direction. during saturday, we say goodbye to ourfirst rain band quite quickly but there will be further bands of showers or further spells of rain from west to east on a fairly brisk breeze. the wind of the bit stronger than it has been of late. some sunny spells as well but a big drop in temperatures. 10—degree drop in places. 25 for norwich in london. maybe 18 for edinburgh, glasgow and belfast. we stick to that fresher feel for the second half of the wekend and we'll see some rain spreading in from the west. welcome to bbc news —

broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a thaw in relations — the united states and european union avert an all—out trade war and agree on getting rid of tariffs and the threat of sanctions. as the task of finding more bodies in greece's devastating wildfires goes on — we hear from those who managed to escape. the count continues in pakistan's general election with the former international cricketer imran khan forecast to become the new prime minister. and it's the question everyone is now asking: is there life on mars? scientists say they've found evidence of water on the red planet.