Mark Cavendish's efforts to come back and fight for wins in bunch sprints after a number of years in the wilderness seem to be on track as the British rider today took his best result for a few years.
The 30-time stage winner at the Tour de France won't exactly be throwing a party after his 2nd place today at Grote prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré (1.1) in Belgium, behind Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), but it's still a very significant result.
Cavendish almost left the sport at the end of last season after failing to take results due to a trying period after contracting Epstein-Barr
He has not won a race since February, 2018, and was hit hard by the virus in recent years, though now finally looks like he has recovered having been offered a place by Deceuninck-QuickStep for this year.
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In the sprint at the end of the 202km race today Cavendish looked very strong and might have won had Merlier - who also won Le Samyn on Tuesday - got the jump in the gallop and opened a gap.
Still, 2nd place was Cavendish's best result since his 2nd place on a stage of the Tour of Oman in 2018.
Irish team EvoPro Racing was also riding the race in Belgium today and it's best finisher was one of its new Belgian riders, Michael Van Staeyen, who placed 19th.
The only Irish rider in the race - Fintan Ryan, making his debut at this level and his debut for EvoPro Racing - was among the non-finishers after a crash.
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