Cavendish claims first Vuelta stage win
British sprinter Mark Cavendish won the first Vuelta a Espana stage of his career on Thursday.
He finished ahead of Garmin-Transitions' Tyler Farrar and his HTC-Columbia teammate Matthew Goss, who lent the Briton crucial support during the stage.
Katusha's Denis Galimzyanov beat Cervelo Test Team's experienced sprinter Thor Hushovd to finish fourth.
Cavendish is now the second Briton to have won stages in all three of the Grand Tours. "The Vuelta is a beautiful race," he said after the victory. "It’s pretty nice to have now won stages at each Grand Tour. Everyone knows the passion I have for these races. I used to watch them as a kid. To stand on the podium is pretty special."
Stage 12: One for the sprinters
Thursday's 12th stage began in Andorra la Vella and finished in Lleida after 175km of riding. While a sprint finish was anticipated, it was far from guaranteed, as the category-2 climb up Coll de Boixols began after 38km.
After the 16km-climb, only a brief ascent up the Alt de Font Llonga stood in the way of the sprinters, and as the final standings would reveal, they managed to overcome it.
Before the sprinters took over, Markus Eichler, Gutavo Cesar, Lars Ytting Bak, Antonio Piedra, Blel Kadri and Perrig Quemeneur broke away early in the stage.
Just after the 50km-mark, they were joined by three riders, among them general classification contender David Garcia Dapena, whose presence rendered the breakaway attempt futile. The peloton would not let Dapena out of its sight.
Goss deserves the credit
As the flat finish to the stage began, Lampre-Farnese Vini,, Liquigas-Doimo and Garmin-Transitions all made strong bids for the lead, but it was HTC-Columbia that managed to pounce, largely thanks to Goss' dedicated lead-out.
The Australian delivered Cavendish perfectly through the final corner of the stage, showing that sprinters are never running a one-man show.
"The finale was chaotic, really chaotic," Cavendish recalled. "I thought we were too far back with 600 metres to go but Goss went down the outside. I thought he wouldn't get round the [final] corner, so I eased off but he made it. I looked round and saw we had a massive gap. I wanted to give him the win but he said 'Go! Go!' The group was coming so I went for it."
The win saw Cavendish take the lead in the points classification on 85 points. With 76 points, Tyler Farrar is in second place, while general classification leader Igor Anton is third in the hunt for the green jersey on 75 points.
Italian Vincenzo Nibali trails Anton by 45 seconds in the overall standings, while Spaniard Xavier Tondo is 64 seconds behind his leading countryman.
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