Mark Cavendish has begun the new season in flying form, taking victory and the race leader's jersey's on today's stage 2 at the Tour of Oman. His bunch sprint win today followed his runner-up placing 24 hours ago on the opening stage.
Today Irish rider Stephen Clancy (Novo Nordisk) was one of the main animators of the action; the Limerick pro rider spending much of the stage on the attack. Sickybotte will return to Clancy's breakaway heroics in a separate piece a little later.
Cavendish sprinted to victory on Suhar Corniche after 167.5km of racing after a great lead-out from his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team. However, the British rider became detached from that lead-out and was left to surf the wheels in the final, doing so very impressively. He claimed the victory from 23-year-old Australian Kaden Groves of BikeExchange-Jayco.
Advertisement
Amaury Capiot (Arkea-Samsic) took 3rd place, with yesterday's stage winner Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) taking 4th and this losing his race leader's jersey to Cavendish.
Related News
While the Manx rider returned to his top level last year, with four stage wins and the green jersey at the Tour, the fact he is now aged 36-years-old, and his seasons in the wilderness after illness, led to speculation he may not be able to recapture that form again this year.
However, having now taken victory in early February - two months earlier than he opened his account last year - he is now well placed to continue gathering in the victories in the months ahead.
