well let's 12 a little bit deeper with formal professional cyclist doctor michael hutchinson who joins me know. michael, thank you so much for joining me know. michael, thank you so much forjoining us, sir bradley wiggins says that it could be an ideal partnership bring peace of mind to the cast of top writers, do you agree with that? to an extent, to an extent. cycling has had problems with the last three years with returning sponsors with teams finding a place for sponsors. we see teams go under, so it's a serious for a cycling in the team, we don't get this thing we've had a few times of the last few seasons, where teams come right down to the way of finding new sponsors, and having to let writers go, and assertive thing. i suppose then that the sponsorship deal is expected to see this increase in funding now, which does seem to be a good thing in the face of it, but do you have any concerns about the potential consequences if this one team is much wealthier than the rest of them? yeah, i do

actually, team sky was already the richest team in world cycling, and this is one of the things, when sky said they were pulling out, we thought where on earth are they going to find a sponsor will take on that bill? they found a sponsor who is going to take him on and some more, team sky has had a budget of about £35 million a year up to this point, that's going up to about 40, and supposedly the second best on the team in world cycling, working off of £18 million a year, doesn't require an expertise in particularly cycling to see that that much money oi'i cycling to see that that much money on the best writers, the best coaches, the best equipment is going to produce a very serious effect, i think possibly you know, the sport does need to have a look at how it's going to address that. and also, we discussed this investment, where do you see that going, is this going to end upjust looking you see that going, is this going to end up just looking for more victories in the tour de france? or perhaps could they possibly invest ina perhaps could they possibly invest in a women's team finally? lou mack i would love to see that. i'm not at

all sure it's going to happen it certainly is part of their initial plans of what they say, and i think it's a shame that when there's extra money coming in that that's being put into winning the tour de france by even more than they can already win them, i think the team for any of us would be a real shot in the arm for women cycling, which frankly, despite the quality of the racing, the quality of the writers, itjust in play doesn't get racing, the quality of the writers, it just in play doesn't get the exposure that it deserves. michael hutchinson think he was always for your insight. thank you. lets move on to football and the european qualifiers taking place this week. england have been training today with some new faces in the squad—our correspondent natalie pirks was there. a may be a crucial time for clubs right now, but it's also crucial time for the country england prepares to face the czech republic and the euro 2020 qualifiers. gareth southgate has seen a lot of withdrawals, but it is allowed him to call up the likes of callum hudson—odoi.

he was down in bristol checking in with the u21 but he got the call—up to the senior setup. then he got the news that he would be coming all the way here for his first join be coming all the way here for his firstjoin up, be coming all the way here for his first join up, parachuted be coming all the way here for his firstjoin up, parachuted into the senior set up, and that's in keeping really with gareth southgate's ethos of bringing through the youngsters coming to get them used to playing with the senior players at st george's park. we spoke to harry kane earlier, he says that's an excellent thing for england. competition for places is high at the moment, everyone's doing well and vying for a spot. the youth express themselves and it is for the years to go and express themselves, especially the attacking players, to try and score goals, and that's what we want is an england team. we want to have that flare and flexibility, so far, so good. it's a great sign in this country when we're producing these types of players. raheem sterling isn't just having a brilliant season for man city team, but he's also started an important

debate on racism and how the media portrays black players. danny rose is in the squad as well with raheem sterling, he had his own issues last year and spoke well about racism and how he was worried for his family i didn't want them going out to russia. i've just spoken to him and he told me the squad unequivocally backs sterling's stance. came in the summer to meet up with england in the summer and he had a tattoo on his leg in the media got on him about that. it'sjust sad, really. he's100% spot on with what he said. the stick he used to get from the media was bang out of order, and when he put the post up about the media, we was all over the moon with that, because we all agree. fair play to raheem. remember, the euros will be based all over europe and so england can

kiss me selves here and play a lot of games at wembley. -- base themselves here. they have talked about the need for everyone to have expectations, but notjust to sail through qualifying. how are they all understand it is a very big opportunity. here are some of the other stories making headlines today. a record nine countries have bid to host the women's world cup in 2023. including a joint offer from north and south korea. the other bids come from argentina, australia, bolivia, brazil, a decision will be made by fifa this time next year josh warrington will defend his ibf world featherweight title against fellow yorkshireman, kid galahad, in june. the fight will take place in warrington‘s home city of leeds, and will be the second defence of his belt after retaining it with a win over carl frampton in december. mike trout and the los angeles angels are close to agreeing a new 12—year deal, that would secure the baseball outfielder the largest contract in the history of sport. the contract would see trout pocket

over 27 million pounds a year. england and australia will wear names and numbers on their shirts for the ashes. in the biggest change to kits in test cricket for 142 years. chris mitchell has the details. something that could upset a few traditional cricket fans, england and australia well where is and numbers on their shirts for the summer's ashes series. it could look like this. this is all part of the icc‘s new plans around the test championship. but it is a dividing opinion, there isa but it is a dividing opinion, there is a lot of people who do not like this. let's take a look quickly at the history of cricket and what players have looked like in the past. this is the 19305, a woollyjumper and a button up shirt. that was good enough for them. in the 19705. .. along came the world series tour

and, importantly, colour tv. at the 1992 world cup, names, and heaven forbid, 1999, names and numbers. and for the traditionalist, shock, horror, for the county championship, it was introduced on a white shirt too. for some, this has not gone down well at all, but the pros, by and large, seem to like it. doesn't bother me at all, it's one of those innovations, you can't call itan of those innovations, you can't call it an innovation really, but he's very positive about it, i can't see anything negative about it a decision like this, but there are those against it, cricketer, niall o'brien, quite simply, i don't like this idea at all. how about one of his supporters here, sorry i'm a traditionalist on this one. a big no for me on placing numbers on test cricket shirts. michael vann though, he's very different about this, delighted to hear about names and

numbers potentially being on test cricket shirts. well, it's more than potentially, it's actually going to happen. what about the guy who broke the story, allie martin, personally i think it's a good idea. let's talk to allison mitchell, she's a cricket commentator around the world and for the bbc, of course, allison first thing to say to you, why all this boss about something that most of us i guess, seems like such a small thing. it isa thing. it is a break with tradition, isn't it? cricket has a long history of tradition in the test again, people see it as a sacred form of the game almost, it's something that i've been calling forfor a almost, it's something that i've been calling for for a long time, either during commentary test match special or the cricket podcast, so we wa nt special or the cricket podcast, so we want to open up this game of cricket, to make it as accessible as possible. if people care enough about test cricket, and there's as much gnashing of teeth over the yea rs much gnashing of teeth over the years about a potential demise of test cricket, well surely this is just one small small thing really, doesn't alter the fabric of the game and anyway, in terms of the actual

cricket, it's a small thing that could, for me, make a big difference, just in terms of the accessibility of the game for those who are at the ground, or watching it on their televisions. things to christmas are there, just before i go staff curry, a three—time nba champion to mvp, and this is why. right at the end of the first quarter of the golden state warriors against the san antonio spurs. from 60 feet away. curry is famous for his shooting from range, but not that much range. and even more incredibly he'd missed seven of his first 8 attempts before it. unbelievable, it didn't help them window. when those. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. with me are broadcaster david davies and jessica elgot, the chief political correspondent for the guardian many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. the guardian carries a striking picture of the devastation caused by cyclone idai in southern africa, as the search for survivors continues. the metro leads on a letter that theresa may will send to the eu on wednesday, formally asking for brexit to be postponed. the prime minister's appeal to brussels, asking for a brexit delay, is also on the front page of the i. but the financial times says the eu is warning there's no guarantee of an extension, beyond the set departure