Mark Cavendish takes first win of 2015 at Tour de San Luis
Mark Cavendish took the bunch sprint on the final stage of the 2015 Tour de San Luis in Argentina as Daniel Diaz won overall
Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step) sprinted to his first win of 2015 in Argentina's Tour de San Luis on Sunday. After twice losing head-to-head against Colombian Fernando Gaviria, he beat his rival to second in the final stage.
"I'm happy and proud we could come away with a win here," Cavendish said. "It's important, not just for myself, but for the whole team, to get a good feeling started here. This is important race experience that we will use to build for our season."
Cavendish lost stage one and stage three, the first sprints, to 20-year-old Gaviria. Gaviria both times jumped Cavendish and held his advantage. On stage three, his acceleration took him three bike lengths ahead of Cavendish.
On Sunday in San Luis' centre, Cavendish won but it was a close battle. He said that he purposely began his sprint early to anticipate Gaviria.
Lampre-Merida's blue and pink train led for Italian Sacha Modolo into the final kilometre. World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski surged ahead with Fabio Sabatini and Cavendish in his wake.
"With four kilometres to go Guillaume Van Keirsbulck took it up. Other teams came close, but then Lukasz Wisniowski took over the lead-out. He took it into the last corner," Cavendish continued.
"Fabio Sabatini was the last guy and he led me out starting at 600 metres to go. At 300 metres to go I went. We knew we could go long, as we did recon of the finish prior to the race. It's slightly downhill. So with the long distance acceleration of a guy like Gaviria and that kind of a finish, it's important to anticipate his sprint and do the job before he does. We did that."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Jakub Mareczko, riding for the Italian national team, placed third and Modolo fourth.
Cavendish will leave Argentina for the Dubai Tour, February 4 to 7. The Tour de San Luis race training and win will likely give him and the Etixx train extra confidence as it sprints towards Milan-San Remo and the Tour de France.
"You can't replicate this kind of preparation at any kind of a training camp," Cavendish said. "You need to have other riders around you to really work on your lead-out. Tour de San Luis in January is a perfect way to do that. A win is the best way to show you are building for the rest of your season."
Argentinian Daniel Diaz (Funvic) took the overall win ahead of Colombians Rodolfo Torres (Colombia national team) and last year's winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in third.
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
-
'I've never seen the cobbles as bad as this' - Inside one team's Paris-Roubaix recon
Tom Davidson joins British Continental team Lifeplus-Wahoo as they prepare for the most feared race of the season
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Tweets of the week: Marianne Vos is still boss, Lorena Wiebes raves, and Geraint Thomas issues a warning
While some riders hope to manage one win in their career, Marianne Vos has 250
By Tom Davidson Published
-
'It was surreal' - Mark Cavendish turns up at local Isle of Man race, finishes 29th
The Manxman, a big supporter of his home scene, pinned on race numbers last weekend
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Tweets of the week: Mark Cavendish has a run-in with police dogs
The Brit was sniffed out at the UAE Tour, and reacted as all of us would
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Tweets of the week: Mark Cavendish takes mid-race selfie with fan
It was photo time at the Tour Colombia in another wild week on social media
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Mark Cavendish robbery: Police say ‘net is closing in’ on final suspect linked to violent raid
Essex police say time is running out for George Goddard who is wanted in connection with the attack on the Cavendish family home
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
Mark Cavendish robbery: third man found guilty of robbing family at knife-point
27-year-old Jo Jobson due to be sentenced on Wednesday for his part in armed robbery of Cavendish and his wife, Peta, at their home in Essex in November 2021
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
Tweets of the week: Lotte Kopecky gets merry, Mark Cavendish’s ideal Tour de France route, and a special pizza cutter
It's time for our weekly round-up of the best social media posts
By Tom Davidson Published
-
Further suspect arrested and charged over knife-point robbery of Mark Cavendish and family
26-year-old Jo Jobson charged with two counts of robbery for his part in break in at Cavendish’s home
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
21 things you didn't know about Mark Cavendish
From working in a bank to breaking records on the Champs-Élysées
By Tom Thewlis Published