Tour de Suisse

15-06-2009 19:56:40

Team Columbia-Highroad continued their latest winning streak at the Tour de Suisse Monday thanks to another perfect lead out from the team and a powerful sprint by Mark Cavendish. The stage from Davos to Lumino included the category-one Lukemanierpass where four riders got away,  but everything came back together and Team Columbia-Highroad again showed why they are considered the best lead out team in the world.

Teammates Marcus Burghardt, Bernhard Eisel, Tony Martin and George Hincapie strung out the peloton with Cavendish perfectly positioned on his wheel and ready for the final sprint.  Hincapie, who guided Cavendish in the final kilometre of his victory at Milan-San Remo, did the same again in Switzerland.  Norway's Thor Hushovd tried to anticipate Cavendish, but the 24-year-old sprinter was on his wheel in a split second and then had the power and strength to surge past him before the line.  Three-time world champion Oscar Freire tried to take on Cavendish but finished second, two bike lengths behind. It was Cavendish's 11th individual victory of the 2009 season.

“It was another perfect win for us and having four riders there to help me in the last three kilometres showed how good and strong we are as a team,” Cavendish said after hugging and sharing his success with his team mates.  “It was a great lead out and all the guys worked perfectly. Thor Hushovd tried to get a jump on me but I was able to get him before the line.”

On Sunday Bernhard Eisel won stage two at the Tour de Suisse and Judith Arndt won both the final stage and the overall classification at the Bira race in Spain. The Tour de Suisse is Cavendish's first race since the Giro d'Italia and he kept the team's winning streak going.

“This is the first time I've ridden the Tour of Switzerland,  but this is our second consecutive win, so it's proving to be a great race for us.”