Mark Cavendish wins stage seven of the Tour de San Luis as Daniel Diaz completes overall victory

Mark Cavendish sprinted to his first win of 2015 on the seventh and final stage of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina.

The Manxman produced a dominant performance to beat Colombia's Fernando Gaviria into second place by half a bike length and Italy's Jakub Mareczko into third.

The result was revenge for the shock defeats Cavendish suffered at the hands of 20-year-old Gaviria in the race's previous two bunch finishes.

There were two Britons in the top 10, after 23-year-old Daniel McLay, of Bretagne-Seche Environnement, finished tenth to end his first professional race on a high. 

Diaz seals win

Argentina’s Daniel Diaz crossed the line in San Luis in the peloton to secure overall victory by 1min 5sec from runner-up Rodolfo Torres and 1min 34sec from third-placed Nairo Quintana. It is the second time in three years that 25-year-old Diaz has won the race.

Cavendish, of Etixx - Quick-Step, said: "We wanted to close Tour de San Luis with a win because we rode really well together as a team all week. We wanted to get something from it and we did. We worked hard at this race. I'm thrilled to leave Argentina with a victory."

The final stage rolled for much of its 122.4km distance but flattened out for the fast-paced run-in to San Luis.

Etixx – Quick-Step jostled with Lampre-Merida for prime position at the head of the field as they entered the final 1km, but then Cavendish’s last team-mate, Fabio Sabatini, dragged him to the front with 600m to go and the 25-time Tour de France stage-winner did not look back.

'Happy and proud'

Conscious that Gaviria had won the previous two sprints with long-range bursts, Cavendish this time went early and although the promising young Colombian kept pace and stayed close, he never looked like completing a hat-trick of wins.

Cavendish added: "At 300m to go I went. We knew we could go long, as we did recon of the finish prior to the race. It's slightly downhill.

"With the long-distance acceleration of a guy like Gaviria and that kind of a finish, it's important to anticipate his sprint and do the job before he does. We did that, and I'm super-happy and proud we could come away with a win here."

Stage seven result

1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx – Quick-Step, 2:33:29
2 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Colombia, same time
3 Jakub Mareczko (Pol) Southeast Pro Cycling, st
4 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
5 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Bretagne-Seche Environnement, st
6 Ken Hanson (USA) UnitedHealthcare, st
7 Nicolas Marini (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, st
8 Francisco Chamorro (Arg) Funvic Brasilinvest-Sao Jose dos Campos, st
9 Julian Gaday (Arg) Buenos Aires Provincia, st
10 Daniel McLay (GB) Bretagne-Seche Environnement, st

General classification

1 Daniel Diaz (Arg) Funvic Brasilinvest-Sao Jose dos Campos, 22:37:07
2 Rodolfo Torres (Col) Team Colombia, +1:05
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +1:34
4 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne-Seche Environnement, +2:02
5 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Colombia, +3:16
6 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha, +3:26
7 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Garmin, +5:29
8 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) Jamis-Hagens Berman, +5:35
9 Leandro Messineo (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos, +5:39
10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, same time