Columbia - High Road's Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Driedaagse De Panne today. Cavendish saw off the man he has been compared to most, Katusha's Robbie McEwen, along with Italy's Francesco Chicchi in a sprint finish. Today's stage was 219km and travelled from Zottegem to Coxyde.
It wasn't all bad news for the new Russian team as McEwen's teammate Filippo Pozzato, who won the opening stage, retained the overall race lead after putting in an impressive performance yesterday.
"It was a long day for the team, who worked very hard. I'd have liked to help one of my teammates win it - but with McEwen in my slipstream that wasn't possible. I had to sprint myself to win it," explained Cavendish to AFP.
Cavendish has had an impressive year so far with seven victories, the most impressive being in Milan-Sanremo where he left his critics picking their jaw up from the ground in disbelief.
Thursday's stage is a 112km race followed by a 14km time trial around De Panne.
2nd stage:
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR/Columbia) 5hr 07min 39sec
2. Robbie McEwen (AUS)
3. Francesco Chicchi (ITA)
4. Simone Cadamuro (ITA)
5. Kenny van Hummel (NED)
6. Chris Sutton (AUS)
7. Wouter Weylandt (BEL)
8. Sebastien Turgot (FRA)
9. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL)
10. Francesco Rivera (ITA) all same time
Overall standings:
1. Filippo Pozzato (ITA/Katusha) 9hr 44min 30sec
2. Frederik Willems (BEL) at 4
3. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) at 1:03
4. Marco Finetto (ITA) at 1:05
5. Borut Bozic (SLO) at 1:05
6. Martijn Maaskant (NED) at 1:07
7. Steve Chainel (FRA) at 1:07
8. Tom Leezer (NED) 1:07
9. Assan Bazayev (KAZ) 1:07
10. Joost Posthuma (NED) 1:07