Sunday 1 March 2015 19:31, UK
Mark Cavendish insisted his triumph at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday went some way to making up for his Etixx – Quick-Step team’s disastrous defeat at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Cavendish sprinted to his sixth win of the season by beating Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff into second place and Team Sky’s Elia Viviani into third.
It came just 24 hours after Etixx – Quick-Step were beaten to victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad by Ian Stannard, despite outnumbering the Team Sky rider by three to one in the final group of four.
Cavendish said: “Especially after the unfortunate result of yesterday, it was nice to get a win today on the classics opening weekend. The lads were super-good.
“Everyone turned their eyes to today and it was a good atmosphere from before the race all the way to the finish line.”
Cavendish’s next outing will be at the seven-day Italian stage race Tirreno-Adriatico from March 11-17, but his main focus for the coming weeks will be attempting to win the one-day classic Milan-San Remo for the second time.
He added: “I would like to do well. I have been training all winter for it. It’s the Milan-San Remo I grew up watching and dreaming of, so I would like to go and give it a crack.
“We have got a strong team for all outcomes. We have got [Michal] Kwiatkowski and [Zdenek] Stybar is flying, so we just work hard towards then and hopefully Etixx – Quick-Step can come away with a win.”
