LA PANNE, Belgium, April 2, 2009 (AFP) – Isle of Man sprinter Mark Cavendish continued his sprint dominance at the Trois Jours de la Panne Thursday with his second consecutive victory over Australian Robbie McEwen.

Columbia sprinter Cavendish had tested his legs ahead of next week’s Ghent-Wevelgem one-day race by beating McEwen in a speedy sprint finish on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning the Briton took his victory tally on the race to two after beating McEwen once again, with Germany’s Andre Schulze finishing third.

In their wake drama unfolded as the race lost its leader, Filippo Pozzato.

The Katusha rider was racing here to fine tune his legs for a tilt at this Sunday’s Tour of Flanders one-day classic but after being delayed by a crash which split the peloton in two 4km from the finish line, Pozzato finished with a 48-sec deficit and was forced to hand his leader’s jersey to Belgian Frederik Willems of Liquigas.

Pozzato then decided he would not compete in Thursday afternoon’s 14 km time trial, which concludes the race.

Photo by: CorVos Pro