Todays prologue was won by T-Mobile's Mark Cavendish, the first ever British rider to wear the yellow jersey on tomorrows first stage. The race was a close run thing with Nikolai Tusov and Alexander Serov from the Tinkoff Credit Systems recording times of 02’28.82” and 02’31.24” respectively, holding poll position on the Leader Board for some time. In a great day for home grown talent, there were four British riders within the top ten namely Geraint Thomas (Barloworld), Ed Clancy (Team GB) and Chris Newton (Recycling.com). Australian rider Zakkari Dempster clocked the fourth time, 3.9 seconds behind winnner Cavendish.

Mark Cavendish said: "It was fantastic to win the Prologue today and it means a great deal to be wearing the Yellow Jersey tomorrow. The crowds were superb and gave me a real incentive as I came off the Prologue ramp. It is also the first time that I have led a King of the Mountains competition."

Cavendish added: "I have come close to a Tour of Britain stage win many times, but it’s great that it all finally clicked for me today." In fact Cavendish felt he hadn’t gone as well as he could. "I thought my time had fallen short, so I actually shook my head in frustration when I crossed the line. Then I heard I had the fastest time, so it was a great surprise."

"I have a track background, so it's not unusual for someone like me to fast on a short course, but I'm still surprised." The win was all the more remarkable as Cavendish had a wisdom tooth removed after just over a week ago. "The operation knocked-me back a bit and I wasn't able to train properly for a few days. But maybe in hindsight, that has left me fresher coming into this race."

Though now in yellow the Manx sprinter's focus remains on stage wins. "It’s great to be in yellow, but I have to be realistic and keep my focus on winning stages.  I am now just two wins of my season target of eleven. But there are a lot of good sprinters here so it will be hard."

The Tour of Britain continues Monday with a 140 km road race from Reading to Southampton. The stage heads south along a route that is mainly flat, but which still offers enough opportunities for attacks.

"The goal will be to defend yellow and maybe also get into the mix for a sprint win. But it will be a difficult stage to control, that's for sure," said Cavendish.  "It will be very aggressive and if I lose yellow tomorrow, then I have team mates who can win it back on another day."