Jumpy Cavendish happy with fourth

LIEGE (Belgium): Mark Cavendish claimed he was happy with a fourth-placed stage finish at the Tour de France on Sunday after missing two months of the season with illness.

The 31-year-old sprint star contracted glandular fever earlier this season and his Tour build-up was seriously affected.

In fact, it was touch and go whether he would even make it to the start line and he admitted during the week that he would need luck to win a stage.

Having already won 30 Tour stages since 2008 -- putting him second on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx with 34 -- Cavendish is never normally happy with second, let alone fourth.

“I was on the ideal wheel in the end but when (Marcel) Kittel went, I was sprinting in his wheel and there was no way I could go past him,” said the Briton.

“It’s as I expected, I’m happy with that. Six weeks training and fourth on a stage of the Tour.

“You always want to win but fourth on a Tour stage is a lot better than I expected.

“I didn’t feel like I had power in my legs. I got where I was by jumping on other wheels to get up.”

Ironically, Kittel said he’d used the same tactic to get in the right position to win the second stage from Dusseldorf to Liege.

“It continues a bit like last year’s (sprint finishes), what we saw there as well,” said Kittel, referring to the fact that no-one’s sprint train managed to function in the final kilometre to set up their leader. - AFP