Cavendish kept from Tour of Britain victory
BRITAIN’S Mark Cavendish was yesterday outsprinted by Leigh Howard of Australia in the pursuit of victory in the second stage of the Tour or Britain.
The world road race champion, supported by Team Sky colleagues Bradley Wiggins and Luke Rowe, was unable to pass the Australian after appearing to get boxed in in the race’s closing stages, but though he remained in front of Boy van Poppel – who remains the race’s overall leader – Tyler Farrar and Russell Downing, who respectively finished third, fourth and fifth, Rowe admitted that the result was a disappointment.
“With 600m to go I led into it with Cav in my wheel,” said Rowe of the Cheshire stage.
“He said he wanted to try and let me go and slip a few wheels back. We knew there was a bit of a dip and he’d use the run.
“Unfortunately on that dip the riders switched from right to left and he got a bit chopped up. Cav’s shown how fast he was in that finish. It’s frustrating but you could see how fast he was coming up at the line.”
The race today heads to Scotland with the 152.6km third stage beginning at 11am in Jedburgh and ending in Dumfries.