Cavendish gets third Vuelta win
Points classification leader Mark Cavendish won his third stage of this year's Vuelta a Espana on Thursday, taking a strong grip on the green jersey ahead of the final stages of the race.
The HTC-Columbia sprinter finished ahead of Saxo Bank's Juan-Jose Haedo and Footon-Serveto's Manuel Cardoso in a stage that had been tailored for the sprinters in the lineup. Garmin-Transitions' Tyler Farrar, now 32 points behind Cavendish in the points
classification, finished fourth.
"It was a slightly uphill finish, it was really hard to find the right gear to use. I changed gears maybe five times in the last 500 metres," Cavendish said after the victory. "Quick Step did a great lead-out. They went very fast into the last corner. I
had to wait a little bit later to go because it was uphill, I didn't have the jump because I was so in the red."
Sprinters were in luck
As the most sprint-friendly route chosen by the Vuelta organisers, the 18th stage had a flat, 149km-long ride between Valladolid and Salamanca in store for the line-up.
The peloton let a breakaway of eight riders escape only two kilometres into the stage. The grouping, which included Lampre-Farnese Vini's Daniele Pietropolli and Olivier Kaisen of Omega Pharma-Lotto, built up a three-minute lead over the main pack.
As the final third of the stage ensued, the breakaway tried to accelerate, but it was clear the peloton would not tolerate a greater lead. With 11km left, the grouping had to give up their hold on the stage.
Kaisen's teammate Philippe Gilbert, a general classification contender early on in the race, launched an attack but was caught 5km before the finish line.
Quick Step made a strong lead-out for the sprint, but Matthew Goss once again delivered Cavendish perfectly for the finish, and the Manxman could make no mistake with 180m left.
Calm day for the overall contenders
The top ten riders of the general classification remain unchanged from yesterday, but yellow-jersey holder Vincenzo Nibali insisted that the stage was no easy task for the overall contenders.
"For us it hasn't been a quiet day at all," he said. "We had to be attentive all the time. In the end, it’s one more day with no problem. At the end, it’s been a bunch sprint. Tomorrow is another dangerous stage and I live day-by-day. On Saturday, Mosquera
and I will play for the overall win at Bola del Mundo. I'm serene. I also know that luck will be an important factor."
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