While stage 21 of the 2013 Giro d’Italia belonged to Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), the race belonged to Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
Nibali’s work was all but done having won stage 20 in sensational style, riding through a snowstorm to extend his advantage over Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Cadel Evans (BMC Racing).
That victory saw Nibali take the red jersey from Cavendish’s shoulders, leaving the Manx Missile with an 11-point deficit to overturn on the final stage.
Cavendish rarely fails to deliver and made light work of winning both intermediate sprints before claiming the stage win by beating Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) and Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) to the finish line.
The 28-year-old joins Eddy Merckx, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Laurent Jalabert and Alessandro Petacchi as only the fifth rider in history to win the points jerseys in all three Grand Tours.
