Cavendish takes third stage of Tour of Britain

LONDON: Team Sky rider Mark Cavendish won a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Tour of Britain from Jedburgh to Dumfries yesterday.
Cavendish, the 2011 world road race champion, had suffered a crash in the closing moments of the opening stage and was pushed into second place by Australia’s Leigh Howard in a tense finish at Knowsley Safari Park on Monday.
But he finally got his stage win yesterday after the peloton, led by Team Sky colleagues Jeremy Hunt and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, had reeled in the breakaway group heading into the final two kilometers.
Cavendish took advantage of their efforts to sprint clear to take the stage.
It was Team Sky’s second stage win after Luke Rowe’s victory on Sunday and Cavendish said: “I knew the finish was downhill but I had the perfect lead-out. It was pretty textbook.”
Contador to lead
Meanwhile, three-time world champion Oscar Freire and newly-crowned Tour of Spain champion Alberto Contador will lead the Spanish team at the September 15-23 world championships in the Netherlands.
The seven other riders are: Dani Moreno, Joaquim Rodriguez, Jonathan Castroviejo, Pablo Lastras, Alejandro Valverde, Juan Antonio Flecha and Samuel Sanchez.
The list is not definitive, with a decision to be taken on Sanchez’s participation to be made after the ongoing Tour of Britain, Egoi Martinez waiting in the wings as a replacement.
“We are not the favorites,” said Spanish federation coach Jose Luis de Santos. “As far as I’m concerned, there are two teams which are stronger than us: Belgium and Italy.
“But that’s not to say we don’t have ambitions.” Contador, who on Sunday won his second Tour of Spain just one month after returning from a two-year doping ban, will race the time-trial along with Castroviejo.


Doping farce

Former Milan-San Remo champion Filippo Pozzato has hit out after a three-month doping ban, which already ended his Olympic dreams, dashed his world championship hopes on Tuesday.
“Anyone who knows anything about this would agree it’s a farce,” said the 30-year-old Italian, a former Tour de France stage winner who was once considered one of the brightest hopes of his generation.
Pozzato had recently been linked to the controversial sports doctor Michele Ferrari, a notorious figure in cycling who previously had links with other top cyclists including controversial American Lance Armstrong.
He admitted in January he used to consult Ferrari, who became famous in the 1990s for claiming the banned blood booster EPO was “no more harmful than orange juice,” which effectively ruled Pozzato out of the Olympics.
Now, he has been left off Italy’s squad for the September 15-23 worlds in the Netherlands.
A statement on the website of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said: “In the disciplinary proceedings against Filippo Pozzato, the National Anti-Doping Tribunal ... has handed down a three-month ban.” It added that the ban was backdated “from 19 June 2012 (date of notification) and ends Sept. 18, 2012” and would pay “the costs of the proceedings, calculated at 2,000 euros, and a fine equal to 10,000 euros.” Pozzato’s admission that he had received training programs from Ferrari from 2005 to 2009 ended his Olympic hopes.