Cavendish wins two in the Vuelta
Mark Cavendish, record-holding sprint finisher in the Tour de France, won his second sprint in a row at the 2010 Vuelta a Espana in Friday’s stage 13 to Burgos. The sprinter’s HTC-Columbia teammate Matt Goss gave the perfect lead-out for him to sprint ahead after the sharp bend in the final kilometre and sprint past Daniele Bennati and 2006 points classification winner Thor Hushovd, who finished third behind Cavendish’s second-place in the points competitions in this year’s Tour de France. The British sprinter now leads in points in the Vuelta.
"I was scared we were too far back at two kilometres to go but once again the team did its homework and we knew the last corner was wide," said Cavendish. "So while other riders were braking, we were able to dive-bomb the corner. Goss took the inside and we just bombed through. He was so fast coming out of the turn I had a hard time holding his wheel."
The first intermediate sprint of the 196km stage fell at 8.4km and was won by Tyler Farrar, for Garmin-Transitions, ahead of Wouter Weylandt, with Cavendish in third place. Farrar stands in second place behind Cavendish in the points classification, moving from nine point behinds to six thanks to the first sprint.
A breakaway of five low-ranked riders gained a 7:58 lead at 53km from the finish line, when Garmin and HTC-Columbia began to reign it in in order to setup Farrar and Cavendish, respectively, for another field sprint. At the summit of the final climb, the Alto de Valmala, the lead was down to two minutes but they stayed ahead until five kilometres to go.
Quick Step and Liquigas joined the fray toward the finish, with Weylandt and Bennati targeting the stage, while Katusha and Cervelo put up a fight in the last kilometre which failed to catch and didn’t stop Cavendish’s pounce.
"The team is always the key, as I say, it's always better to have a star team than a team of stars. All the guys are committed to the cause,” said Cavendish. “They're all passionate about the sport and its history. They're not just interested in money. I'm so proud to be part of this team."
Overall leader Igor Anton, for Euskaltel-Euskadi, rode a quiet day, without any change in his-45 second lead ahead of Vincenzo Nibali, and remains 64 seconds ahead of Xavier Tondo. David Moncoutie, for Team Cofidis, leads in the mountain classification after winning it the previous two years. Cavendish will have to sit back again as the next three stages each feature summit finishes, followed by the second and final rest day after stage 16.
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