The Sport Matrix: Monday 16 March 2015

Quintana conquers snowy conditions

Nairo Quintana won a snowy fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico with an impressive solo attack on the final climb to move into the overall lead yesterday. The Colombian, who won last year’s Giro d’Italia, made his move 5km from the finish as the snow came down heavily. Quintana leads the overall standings by 17sec ahead of Dutch rider Bauke Mollema.

Team Sky’s Richie Porte won Paris-Nice for the second time after victory in yesterday’s final time-trial.

Holders Exeter reach cup final

Champions Exeter survived a strong second-half fightback by Leicester to book their place in the LV= Cup final against Saracens on Sunday. Exeter will meet Sarries at Franklin’s Gardens after a 30-22 victory over the Tigers at Welford Road. Michele Rizzo scored early for Leicester, but tries from Elvis Taione, Fetu’u Vainikolo and Greg Bateman helped Exeter progress.

Daley fails to reach final with ‘firework’

Tom Daley had a disappointing outing in the year’s first World Series event yesterday, as he failed to qualify for the 10m platform final in Beijing. The 20-year-old Briton again used his new “firework” dive but scored a modest 54 for the routine. Daley came seventh overall as China’s world record-holder Jiang Yang claimed first place ahead of American David Boudia.

Zlatan loses his cool after PSG loss

French sports minister Patrick Kanner has told Zlatan Ibrahimovic to say sorry for his rant following PSG’s 3-2 Ligue 1 defeat at Girondins de Bordeaux. “In 15 years I’ve never seen a [good] referee in this s*** country,” the Swede said. Kanner tweeted: “Ibrahimovic’s disappointment does not justify his remarks towards the referee and the country that hosts him.”

Wolfsburg and Gladbach prevail

Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach boosted their Champions League ambitions with wins in the Bundesliga yesterday. Wolfsburg look guaranteed of qualification for Europe’s top competition as a 3-0 win at home to Freiburg strengthened their hold on second place. Gladbach beat Hannover 2-0 to move two points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen in third place.