Cavendish triumphs again in Turkey

Mark Cavendish profited from another sublime lead-out from his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team-mates to sprint to his second consecutive stage win at the Tour of Turkey.

Cavendish tore clear of the pack to take victory ahead of Neri Sottoli’s Francesco Chicchi and Lampre-Merida’s Niccolo Bonifazio after the 175km ride from Alanya to Kemer.

“The guys rode incredible today,” said Cavendish. “They delivered me perfectly to the line. I’m happy we could get another stage here at Tour of Turkey and I’m thankful I could finish the work of the guys again today.”

Today’s stage three culminates with the first summit finish of the race and Cavendish is resigned that his overall lead will likely be short-lived.

“It’s been a tough couple of days for the guys,” he said. “We’ll try and get through tomorrow as best as possible but there’s no way I can even try and defend the leader’s jersey.”

On Sunday, the Manxman powered to an impressive victory on the opening stage – his first race in over a month after contracting a virus.