In a parking lot near the East River in Manhattan, Adriana Alltari gathers her courage, lifts her feet off the ground and wobbles away on New York's latest mode of public transport: a bicycle. Alltari, a 32-year-old engineer, was taking part in free bike riding classes as the Big Apple makes final preparations for a program that will revolutionize a city known more for traffic jams of yellow cabs and other vehicles of the four-wheeled variety.

Luca Paolini won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia to take the overall leader's pink jersey following the 222km ride from Sorrento to Marina di Ascea on Monday. In a bunch sprint for second place former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans edged out reigning Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal as the overall favourites finished in a small group 16sec back. In his first ever Giro at the age of 36, Paolini took over the leader's jersey from countryman Salvatore Puccio of Team Sky, who was distanced on the final climb.

British sprint king Mark Cavendish won a chaotic opening stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday to pull on the race leader's pink jersey for the third time in his career. The Isle of Man rider, winning his 11th stage in the epic Italian race, dominated a small but hectic group sprint to leave Elia Viviani of the Cannondale team in second place after nearly three hours of frantic racing around Naples. Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni was third while Australian Matthew Goss finished sixth after running out of steam in the final 200 metres of the 130-kilometre race opener.

Factfile on Olympic cycling great Chris Hoy, who announced his retirement on Thursday: Name: Christopher Andrew Hoy Age: 37 Date of birth: March 23, 1976 Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland Discipline: track cycling Major honours: Olympics: six gold medals, one silver medal World Championships: 11 gold medals, eight silver medals, six bronze medals European Championships: one bronze medal Commonwealth Games: two gold medals, two bronze medals Individual honours: BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 2008 Other: