Cycling: Cavendish takes third stage

Cavendish had suffered a crash in the closing moments of the opening stage of the Tour of Britain.

LONDON: Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish won a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Tour of Britain from Jedburgh to Dumfrie. Cavendish, the 2011 world road race champion, had suffered a crash in the closing moments of the opening stage and was pushed into second place by Australia’s Leigh Howard in a tense finish at Knowsley Safari Park. But he finally got his stage win after the peloton, led by Team Sky colleagues Jeremy Hunt and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, had reeled in the breakaway group heading into the final two kilometres. “I knew the finish was downhill but I had the perfect lead-out. It was pretty textbook,” said Cavendish.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2012.