RAVENNA, Italy, May 19, 2011 – Britain’s Mark Cavendish bade farewell
to this year’s Tour of Italy by sprinting to his second stage win on Thursday
as Spaniard Alberto Contador retained the overall leader’s pink jersey.

The HTC-Highroad rider won the 12th stage over relatively flat terrain from
Castelfidardo to Ravenna ahead of Italian duo Davide Appollonio and Alessandro
Petacchi.

It was the last stage for the 25-year-old sprint ace in this year’s race as
he announced he was withdrawing before it heads to the mountain stages.

“I’m going home to recuperate before the Tour de France,” explained
Cavendish, who was accused of cheating by fellow riders who claimed he was
towed up Mount Etna on the back of a car in Sunday’s stage.

But the Briton went on to win Tuesday and Thursday’s stages before
withdrawing citing the lack of possibilities for sprinters before the end of
the Giro on May 29 in Milan.

“I’m really pleased, the Giro is a very important race for me, there aren’t
any more sprint stages in this year’s race and I really wanted to get another
win here,” said Cavendish.

“Winning today was really important, my team-mates had worked all day with
no help at all from any other squad and I wanted to thank them for it by
winning.

“They did an incredible job. Then I started up my sprint with 200 meters to
go and I managed to get it.”

Cavendish said that he had managed to avoid a last-kilometer crash in the
bunch because his team had foreseen there could be problems.

“We had seen before the stage, in the route-book, that it might be
difficult, we knew we had to be close to the front, and we got through it ok.”

The HTC team, led by Australian Mark Renshaw, who is also set to quit the
race, controlled the stage, which was hampered by a pileup of riders 1500
metres from the line.

Under the blazing sunshine on the Adriatic coast, three-time Tour de France
winner Contador of the Saxo Bank team had an easier ride, arriving with the
peloton.

Cavendish’s Giro victory is the 66th professional road win of his career
and the fourth of the 2011 season. It is also his seventh Giro stage victory.

The Giro is set for three days in the mountains with Friday’s 13th stage
over 167km from Spilimbergo, northeast of Venice, to Grossglockner, Austria’s
highest mountain.

The Views In Italy Are Amazing

Stage Results
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) HTC 4hr 17min 25sec (average: 42.887 km/h), 2.
Davide Appollonio (ITA) SKY same time, 3. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA) LAM s.t.,
4. Roberto Ferrari (ITA/AND) s.t., 5. Gerald Ciolek (GER) QST s.t., 6. Fabio
Sabatini (ITA/LIQ) s.t., 7. Manuel Belletti (ITA) COG s.t., 8. Mirco Selvaggi
(ITA) VAC s.t., 9. Mark Renshaw (AUS) HTC s.t., 10. Manuel Cardoso (POR) RSH
s.t., 11. Alex Rasmussen (DEN) HTC s.t., 12. Dennis van Winden (NED) RAB s.t.,
13. Michael Barry (CAN) SKY s.t., 14. Danilo Hondo (GER) LAM s.t., 15. Daniele
Righi (ITA) LAM s.t., 16. Michael Morkov (DEN) SAX s.t., 17. Marco Frapporti
(ITA) COG s.t., 18. Matteo Montaguti (ITA) ALM s.t., 19. Fumiyuki Beppu (JPN)
RSH s.t., 20. Giovanni Visconti (ITA) FAR
Selected:
22. Alberto Contador (ESP) SAX s.t., 85. Denis Menchov (RUS) GEO s.t., 120.
Carlos Sastre (ESP) GEO s.t., 176. Danilo Di Luca (ITA) KAT s.t.,

Overall standings
1. Alberto Contador (ESP) SAX 44hr 55min 16sec, 2. Kanstantsin Siutsou
(BLR) HTC at 0:59sec, 3. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) LIQ 1:21, 4. Christophe Le
Mevel (FRA) GRM 1:28, 5. Michele Scarponi (ITA) LAM 1:28, 6. David Arroyo
(ESP) MOV 1:37, 7. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) AST 1:41, 8. Jose Serpa Perez (COL)
AND 1:47, 9. Dario Cataldo (ITA) QST 2:21, 10. Matteo Carrara (ITA) VAC 2:21,
11. Igor Anton (ESP) EUS 2:21, 12. John Gadret (FRA) ALM 2:35, 13. Stefano
Garzelli (ITA) ASA 2:39, 14. Hubert Dupont (FRA) ALM 2:57, 15. Francesco
Masciarelli (ITA) AST 3:02, 16. Denis Menchov (RUS) GEO 3:18, 17. Vasili
Kiryienka (BLR) MOV 3:20, 18. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP) KAT 3:22, 19. Thomas
Lovkvist (SWE) SKY 3:40, 20. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 4:21
Selected:
24. Carlos Sastre (ESP) GEO 5:10, 78. Danilo Di Luca (ITA) KAT 40:58, 170.
Mark Cavendish (GBR) HTC 1hr 31min 30sec, 186. Matthew Wilson (AUS) GRM
1h52:26.

Article:AFP
Photo: Corvos