cavendish cashes in
Milan-Sanremo, 298km/185mi By Cathy Mehl
If you wonder if it’s possible to be the fastest man in the world and the happiest man in the world at the very same moment in time, just ask Team Columbia’s Mark Cavendish after his stunning photo finish win over Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) in the 100th edition of Milan-Sanremo on Saturday. With Haussler already well on his way to the win, Cavendish took after him as though a fuse had been lit and accelerated past the German rider to take the win on the line by the width of a tire. It was an amazing display of power from the former track star as he continues to mature and grow in the sport of professional road cycling. The 23-year old Briton smiled broadly from the podium as tears of pure joy welled up in his eyes and his national anthem played in the background. Third on the day was Haussler’s teammate Thor Hushovd to round out the podium. Making his European debut since his 2009 comeback to racing, Lance Armstrong was watched out for by teammate Yaroslav Popovych near the front of the peloton for most of the day. Armstrong found himself in some difficulty on the Cipressa, but felt fine at the finish of the race, which bodes well for his level of fitness. Many tifosi (Italian fans) swarmed on him at the conclusion of the race to get pictures with the seven-time Tour champion, making for a slow escape from the masses after a long day on the bike. “Lance will not be unhappy,” said DS Dirk Demol. “His legs felt good during the race. At the end he had some difficulties but that is not abnormal and so did many others. Only 40 or so riders went away at the end and they were peaking for this race after riding Tirreno or Paris-Nice.” Demol continued, “We knew that it would be difficult. The main goal here was to put in kilometers for the Giro.”
With Sunshine and temperatures at 14 ºC/57ºF the peloton began an almost seven-hour ride from Milan to Sanremo on Saturday. A break of eight riders was away for much of the stage, but the teams of the sprinters never let the gap grow to an unmanageable amount and with 50km to go it was just over 2-1/2 minutes to the leaders. On the climb of the Capo Berta at 36km to go everyone was attentive to their eating and drinking while the gap hovered at two-minutes. By the time the peloton was on the next-to-last climb of the Cipressa, the gap was under one minute and soon enough it was gruppo compatto.
Italian riders Michele Scarponi (Diquigiovanni), Stefano Garezelli (Acqua & Sapone) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) tried to break away but each attack was brought back by the attentive teams of the sprinters: Quick-Step for Tom Boonen and Allan Davis, Cervelo for Haussler and Hushovd, Team Columbia for Cavendish, and LPR Brakes for Alessandro Petacchi. Only small gaps opened up despite the best efforts by Scarponi and Ivan Basso (Liquigas) to break up the group. No one wanted to arrive at the line with the fast men of the sport, but no one could get away and stay there, either. With 10km left to race the peloton hit the final climb of the Poggio and with it the last chance to launch an attack. Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni) tried to go, as did Filippo Pozatto (Katusha) but none of the efforts were explosive enough and the race stayed all together. Team Astana’s Max Iglinskiy and Assan Bazayev were always close to the front and in good position for the final kilometers. George Hincapie (Columbia) looked after Cavendish and once under the red kite signaling 1000m to go, he hit the final corner first as the sprinters spread wide across the road with the finish line in sight. Haussler jumped first had distanced the others by at least 10m but Cavendish simply put his head down and barreled up the left side to make the catch and steal the win, showing the true power of a track sprinter.
Iglinskiy and Bazayev were clearly pleased with their efforts on the day. A smiling Bazayev commented, “I tried. I was never in difficulty. I saw Petacchi and Boonen who could not follow, but I could. I was surprised how easily Cavendish climbed. Well done for him. In the sprint I took Petacchi’s wheel but it was a real casino. The others came from everywhere, but I have no complaints.” “We did a good training ride…..a long one!” said Armstrong to Dmitriy Muravyev when Dima passed him on the Poggio. Next up for Team Astana is the stage race of Castilla y Leon which begins on Monday, March 23-27th. Racing in Spain will be Lance, Alberto, Jesus, Levi, Chechu, Benja, Tomas & Haimar with Eki and Sean in the car. Alberto took two stages wins and the overall in this race last year and comes back to defend his title with a crazy-strong squad of men in blue.
Top Ten Results 1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) 6hr 42min 31sec
Team Astana Results
16 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) .02 52 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) .53 63 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 3.53 75 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 8.19 125 Lance Armstrong (USA) 155 Gregy Rast (Swi) 12.30 DNF Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) DNF Michael Schär (Swi)
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