Mark Cavendish won the 12th stage of the Vuelta a España this afternoon.
Stage 13 today was from Andorra La Ville to Lleida and was one without Team Sky who withdrew all their riders following the death of 43 year old carer Txema Gonzalez (Team Sky Statement ) and Milram's Roy Sentjens who was thrown out last night for having tested positive for EPO at an out-of-competition control on August 16th.
Six riders broke clear, ten kilometres in the stage on another warm day and they were joined by another three, some 41 kms later.
As this was a stage for the sprinters left in the race, the leaders were chased back by Euskatel and HTC Colombia along with Garmin who had Julian Dean at the front.
However, as the riders bore down on the finish line, Mark Cavendish was led out by Matt Goss and cruised to an easy victory in a town where Malcolm Elliott also won a stage, in a time of 4hr and thirty seconds.
Speaking after the race to Eurosport, Cavendish said: "Gossy did an incredible job. "I thought we were too far back but he gave me a lead out and it was good to win for the team after a job like that. So we are happy. I love winning and love being part of a winning team, I just want to be part of that for as long as possible."
"It's really special to win stages in all three major Tours, but there are always eight teammates who get me into a position where I can win." Cavendish said to the HTC Colombia's Press Office. "[Teammate] Lars Bak got in the break today, so we didn't have to work so hard. I wanted Matt [Goss] to get the win today because he made such a huge effort to get me into the right position. It didn't work out that way, but even so I'm really proud of what he did today. When I do succeed, it's on behalf of the team. We've a young squad here, and we're learning day-by-day and getting tighter and tighter in the finishes. It's going well."
Cavendish has now regained control of the points classification, which he leads with a nine point advantage. "I would like to try and win it outright, but my main objective is stage wins. Hopefully I'll get some more and the points jersey will work out as well."
Stage 13 tomorrow is from Rincon De Soto to Burgos.
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Airline Flybe are according to reports applying for a cycling team licence. The airline is trying to keep things under wraps but are being reported as not having lined up any riders as yet.
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Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM