Cavendish took an early advantage on the stage winning the Hotspot Sprint at Pamber Heath. From there a breakaway
of two riders formed with Mikel Artexe (Team Fuertventura-Canarias) and Piet Rooijakkers (Skil Shimano) leading the race for
over 50 miles before finally being reeled in by the main peloton as they entered the streets of Southampton. As the riders
entered the final kilometres it was the T-Mobile team that set a blistering pace, setting up Mark Cavendish perfectly to unleash
his explosive final sprint to take a second consecutive win.
Continuing his dominance of the event, Cavendish now holds the lead in both the Yellow and Green Jersey competitions,
leading the race on both overall time and points. Team mate, Frantisek Rabon currently leads the E.ON King of the Mountains
competition, demonstrating the strength in depth that T-Mobile has brought to this event.
With these results, T-Mobile
currently head up the team placing, with an overall time of 9h23’18”.
In the sprints competition, the
earlier breakaway effort of Piet Rooijakers from Team Skil-Shimano enabled him to secure the sprints competition having collected
a total of 10 points today.
Stage winner, Cavendish said: "The team worked really hard today for the stage win, with
quite windy conditions out on the road but we got the win and I am delighted to be going into tomorrow’s race wearing
the yellow jersey again."
This latest win also takes Cavendish's season tally to ten: "It’s fantastic because I am into double
figures now, and I am just one win short of my target of 11 season wins."
Experienced team mate and fellow Brit Roger Hammond placing fourth after leading-out Cavendish in the finale:
"Roger did a perfect job in the sprint, leading me out to the last 200m," said Cavendish. "That was even further than I needed,
so I couldn't lose then!"
After a break did get away, the magenta team had to continue their driving at the front, though they were
joined in the chase for the final 30kms by two Agritubel riders and a rider each from Barloworld and CSC: "The other teams
helped, but not earlier on and not as much as we would have liked,” said Cavendish. “So that really left T-Mobile
with a lot to do, but we timed it well and we celebrate this win as a team.”
On young team mate and fellow Brit
Ian Stannard Cavendish had sympathy and respect: "I could see Ian up at he front pulling hard when it was really windy. He
did a great job but paid for it in the end through tiredness. He will definitely be first on the massage table tonight!"
Czech T-Mobile rider Frantisek Rabon is also showing top form in Britain, by following up a fine sixth place
in the prologue with a strong performance today that takes him into the lead in the King of the Mountain competition. ". It
is my first time to wear a jersey at a tour so I am delighted. It wasn’t the plan at the start of the stage but the
legs felt good and I placed third and first on the KOM climbs."
On helping his team mate Cavendish Rabon commented:
"With Mark in the team we have to work hard to control races and set up a sprint, but it is always worth it because you know
he is always capable of winning. So it is great to work for Mark."
The race continues Tuesday with a lumpy 169km stage through Somerset – the toughest in this year’s
Tour of Britain. Gaps are expected when the race goes into the unforgiving territory of Exmoor.
Cavendish knows what
to expect: "Fourteen seconds is not such a big lead on a tough stage like tomorrow and it will be very hard to defend yellow.
I am quite scared of it actually, but Frantisek is going well and if I lose yellow hopefully he can take it on."
Rabon
was optimistic: "Let's see what happens tomorrow. It’s a tough stage and the racing is sure to be hard and aggressive
but Roger Hammond and I will both try to get into any breaks on the climbs."
