Mark Cavendish made it two wins in two days when he won the 13th stage of the Vuelta a España this afternoon.
Stage 13 today was from Rincon De Soto to Burgos and saw Allan Davis (Astana), Olivier Kaisen ( Omega Pharma-Lotto), Giampaolo Cheula (Footon-Servetto), Manuele Mori (Lampre) and Niki Terpstra (Milram go clear after 30kms and stayed clear.
They had a lead of over seven and a half minutes but with less than 10km to go on what was a stage for the sprinters, the gap was forty seconds.
HTC Colombia along with David Millar of Garmin were leading the fightback by the peleton. They caught everyone bar Niki Terprstra who lasted untl 4km to the finish.
Katusha, Garmin and Quick Step battled it out but Mark Cavendish (pictured below) had the accleration thanks to the hard work of Matt Goss and the Manx man and green jersey points wearer took his second consecutive victory with a bunny hop over the line in a time of 4hr, 50mins and 16 seconds. Thor Hushovd was second.
"Matt was going so fast, I was struggling to stay on his wheel at times," Cavendish said to the HTC Colombia Press Office. "He divebombed down the side of the bunch and got me into the perfect position. Normally I'd go with 250 metres to go, but I had to hold it until 170 metres this time. Hopefully he'll get a stage win as well before the race ends."
Cavendish paid tribute to his Vuelta teammates in general, saying "they're young, but they're really dedicated and concentrated. I'm really proud of the work they're doing here and I can't thank them enough."
Cavendish singled out Hayden Roulston, his teammate who abandoned today, saying "We were sad to lose him, and I hope he gets better soon." Asked about his 'jump' across the line, Cavendish said "I just like to do stuff like that and I'm sure one of our partners will be able to use that. I work with a great group of partners and suppliers and it's nice to be able to give them something back."
Igor Anton continues in the leaders red jersey.
Stage 14 is 178km long and from Burgos to Peña Cabarga
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HTC Colombia have named their team for the Tour Of Britain which starts tomorrow in Rochdale.
HTC-Columbia for Tour of Britain: Michael Albasini (Swi); Bert Grabsch (Ger); André Greipel (Ger); Tony Martin (Ger); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Mark Renshaw (Aus).
"Britain is a tough race to predict, because there are always a lot of breakaways," said HTC Colombia race director Brian Holm to his team's press office. "But André has stayed on form since Eneco, when he was working really hard for [overall winner and teammate] Tony Martin, and at the same time winning sprints. Tony will be here to pull back breaks and close gaps, and then we've got a couple of guys - like Michael Albasini - to try and get into the moves if they look like they'll stay away."
"It's always difficult to be certain where a week-long stage race like Britain will be decided, particularly where there's no time trial. But we'll make sure we keep a close eye on one or two of the other big teams to see what they're doing, too. The important thing is not to get too stressed about it all. You tend to do better."
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Brits Charles Weglius and Chris Froome rode in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec today.
The race was won by France's Thomas Voeckler who beat Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM