Sunday 1 March 2015 16:57, UK
Mark Cavendish handed Britain their second win of the opening weekend of the classics by sprinting to victory at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in Belgium.
Twenty-four hours after Ian Stannard had won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Cavendish beat Alexander Kristoff into second place and Elia Viviani into third to claim his sixth win of the season.
It was arguably the best performance of his year so far and was the second Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne victory of his career following a previous triumph in 2012.
Cavendish said: “I knew it was going to be hard but I have been going good all year and the team looked after me superb today, so I am super-proud to get this victory for Etixx – Quick-Step on the opening weekend [of the classics].”
Team Sky controlled the peloton heading into the last 10km of the 193km race, but when BMC Racing's Philippe Gilbert attacked with 4.8km to go and built up a lead of 10 seconds, other teams were forced to come forward to help with the chase.
A combination of Kristoff's Katusha, Cavendish's Etixx - Quick-Step and Lotto Soudal brought the Belgian back with 700m remaining, and then Kristoff was the first man to launch his sprint for the line.
However, Cavendish had worked his way on to the Norwegian's wheel and comfortably overtook him in the final 150m to win by a bike's length.
He added: “Because there was a headwind in the last corner, we used our guys too early. We were really quite far behind. Tom [Boonen, his Etixx - Quick-Step team-mate] went to go but I had already left him to go on to Kristoff’s wheel. I thought it was better to follow Kristoff. I know him and their team has been going good this year."
Kristoff admitted afterwards that he was feeling fatigued after racing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.
He said: “I felt really tired all day. In the final the team did a good job and brought me perfect [to the finish], but Mark was just faster in the end. He didn’t race yesterday, so maybe he had fresher legs. He is one of the fastest guys in the world, so to be beaten by him is not too bad."
Result
1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx – Quick-Step, 4:28:56
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, same time
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, st
4 Tom van Asbroeck (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo, st
5 Daniele Colli (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, st
6 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Ned) BMC Racing, st
7 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st
8 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN-Qhubeka, st
9 Michel Kreder (Ned) Team Roompot, st
10 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling, st
