Mark Cavendish took the second victory of his final season on the road on Thursday afternoon at the Tour of Hungary.
The Astana Qazaqstan rider beat Dylan Groenewegen to the line to win stage two in Kazincbarcika. Cavendish was able to rely on a perfect lead out from his teammates and launched his sprint in the final 200 metres to snatch the win ahead of Jayco-AIUla’s Groenewegen and Jon Aberasturi of Euskaltel-Euskadi.
After missing out on the opening day to Bora-Hansgrohe’s Sam Welsford, Cavendish said his teammates had timed their lead out train to perfection.
"I'm really happy with it," Cavendish said following the stage finish. "Yesterday, we didn't quite hit the lead-out properly. It was super good, and everyone committed 100% yesterday, but we were just a bit eager and a bit too soon.
"We talked and talked about that to rectify it today. It was a completely different finish today, no big boulevard or corners to make it technical, and we executed it exactly how we wanted it. I'm so happy."
The eagle-eyed among you will notice that Cavendish crossed the line riding a pair of unbranded handlebars, which we’ve found out were the Vision Metron 5D model.
It was the second win of Cavendish’s season after he won a stage earlier this year at Tour Colombia. He now sits five seconds off the overall race lead in Hungary.
The Manxman is expected to retire at the end of the current campaign after one last attempt at breaking the record for the most stage wins at the Tour de France. Cavendish is currently tied on 34 wins with Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx.
Cavendish was just metres away from taking the record breaking win in Bordeaux last year but was just edged out by eventual green jersey winner Jasper Philipsen.
After taking victory in Colombia earlier this year, Cavendish’s schedule was impacted by a period of sickness which led to him missing Scheldeprijs in early April.
Cavendish pulled out of the UAE Tour in February before going on to ride Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy.
The Manxman missed the time cut on stage five so was forced to quit the Italian stage race. Cavendish then rode Milano-Torino but also abandoned the race after suffering with cold-like symptoms.
The 38-year-old then took part in an amateur race on the Isle of Man as he built back some form. A competitor in the Nick Corkill Memorial Race told Cycling Weekly that Cavendish’s presence was surreal.
