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Mark Cavendish has taken a huge comeback win at the Tour of Turkey; sprinting through late at the end of stage 2 to deny last week's Scheldeprijs winner Jasper Philipsen.
Irish riders Jesse Ewart (Team Sapura Cycling) and Cormac Mcgeough (Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling) both finished in the main peloton on the same time as the stage winner and new race leader.
Cavendish, who has been showing his old form of late, won it very well today as he came from a long way back in the sprint and charged through in the final 100 metres with a rapid burst of speed.
Inside that final hundred metres, the speed Cavendish was sprinting at was much faster than the in-form Philipsen (Alpecin Fenix), suggesting the 30-time Tour de France stage winner is in great form.
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At the end of the 144.9km stage 2, which started and finished in Konya, it was Philipsen's team and Israel Start-Up Nation, who were leading out André Greipel, who dominated on the front of the peloton in the last kilometre.
However, while Cavendish had riders from both of those teams in front of him all the way, he showed his old instincts and top end speed by waiting and waiting to launch his sprint. He reached for the afterburners very late but was so fast he was the clear winner on the line.
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Philipsen (23) had to be content with 2nd place behind Cavendish (35), with Greipel (38) rounding out the podium. Yesterday's stage winner, and today's yellow jersey, Arvid de Kleijn (Rally Cycling) was 4th and he now loses the race lead to Cavendish.
It was Cavendish's first win since 2018 and his first victory since the Epstein Barr virus intervened and derailed what had been a glittering career. His time in the peloton almost ended last season when he was in danger of drifting out of the sport.
However, Deceuninck-QuickStep signed him for this year after Cavendish went looking for a personal sponsor to help supplement his salary demand. And now the Manx rider has repaid the team's confidence in him with a win. Judging by the quality of his sprint today, and his recent results, he has a lot more to offer.
More to come.
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