Mark Cavendish walks out of Vuelta as Daniel Moreno celebrates first ever win at a grand tour
Mark Cavendish who was riding the Vuelta a Espana 2011 as a preparation for the World Championships starting right after the Vuelta has quit the race during the stage 4. It seems like the Manx man could not handle the hot Spanish weather as he decided to
finish his Vuelta after the Puerto de los Blancares climb.
By cancelling the race he has also missed the opportunity to prepare just before the World Championships as there are no other major cycling events at the moment. The one main issue that he might be worried about at this point is the UCI rule 2.6.0262 and
in order to participate in any other event included in the Spanish Grand Tour Cavendish required permission from UCI and the Vuelta organisers as per the UCI rule 2.6.026 which states, “A rider dropping out of the race may not compete in any other cycling
events for the duration of the stage race he abandoned, on pain of a 15 day suspension and a fine of CHF 200 to 1,000.” and it continues as, "For major tours, the event directors and the commissaires panel jointly may, however, grant exceptions at the request
of a rider and with the agreement of his team manager."
It was a big disappointment for everyone to see the winner of last year’s point classification walking off the race already at the fourth stage as Cavendish gave up at the second climb of the stage. Mark however, is not the only cyclist since his HTC team-mate
Matt Goss dropped off the race during stage 2.
A bad day for Cavendish was certainly the best for the Katusha rider Daniel Moreno as the Spaniard cruised through the finish line with a lead of 3 seconds over first runner up Chris Anker of Saxo Bank.
The 29-year-old commented about his first stage win at the grand tour as he mentioned that he knew he had a chance of winning the stage because he was in a great shape and secondly the stage suited his skills.
After winning the stage 4 at the Vuelta a Espana 2011 Moreno has placed himself at the second position at the stage four general classifications as he is 43 seconds behind the race leader Sylvain Chavanel.
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