British cycling star Mark Cavendish won his second stage in the Tour of Switzerland here on Thursday, the 178 kilometer sixth stage from Oberriet.

The 24-year-old Isle of Man born cyclist – winner of four stages in last year’s Tour de France – won in a sprint finish ahead of Spain’s three-time world road race champion Oscar Freire.

Cavendish had already won Monday’s stage from Davos to Lumino.

“It may have appeared easy but it wasn’t that evident to me,” said Cavendish.

“We had to cope with a second category climb early in the stage and then a strong headwind.

“As only two teams (Columbia et Saxo Bank) have thus far contested the finishes, the climaxes to the stages have become nervy affairs.

“I owe a lot to my team-mate George Hincapie who saved me today (Thursday).

“I am here to prepare for the Tour de France. There is no better exercise than to climb the mountains in order to achieve full competitive fitness.

“Therefore I will stay and fight it out to the end of the race,” added Cavendish, who faces a tough final three stages with the next two finishing with climbs and then a 38km time-trial on the final stage.

The last-moment assault towards the finish was launched by Thor Hushovd of the Cervelo team but the Norwegian was overhauled by his rivals. Third on the day was Italian Francesco Gavazzi of the Lampre team.

Slovenia’s Tadej Valjavec (AG2R) retained the overall lead in what is the last major cycling event before the Tour de France starts on July 4.

Swiss favourite and twice world time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Saxo-Bank), second overall, reduced the margin behind Valjavec to just 9 secs, setting him up for the race against the clock on Sunday’s final day in the Swiss capital, Berne.

On Friday the riders have a 204km ride to Vallorbe which ends with a taxing second category climb.

Stage
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR/THR) 4h18min 26sec
2. Oscar Freire (ESP/RAB) at 0:00.
3. Francesco Gavazzi (ITA/LAM) 0:00.
4. Thor Hushovd (NOR/CTT) 0:00.
5. Jürgen Roelandts (BEL/SIL) 0:00.
6. Matti Breschel (DEN/SAX) 0:00.
7. Koldo Fernandez (ESP/EUS) 0:00.
8. Gerald Ciolek (GER/MRM) 0:00.
9. Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP/GCE) 0:00.
10. Wouter Weylandt (BEL/QST) 0:00.

Overall
1. Tadej Valjavec (SLO/ALM) 23hr 10min 27sec
2. Fabian Cancellara (SWI/SAX) at 0:09sec.
3. Oliver Zaugg (SWI/LIQ) 0:14.
4. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/LIQ) 0:42.
5. Andreas Kloden (GER/AST) 0:45.
6. Tony Martin (GER/THR) 0:54.
7. Maxime Monfort (BEL/THR) 0:55.
8. Gustav Larsson (SWE/SAX) 0:56.
9. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/KAT) 1:01.
10. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 1:02.

Photo by: CorVos Pro