Taking the plaudits for that first win

Tire’s width finish

McEwen’s face says it all

British rider Mark Cavendish scored the first pro-win of his career on Wednesday 18 April at the GP Scheldeprijs in Belgium. Delivered to the finish by an excellent T-Mobile sprint train, the talented 21 year old Manx speedster was able to finish off the job by overhauling no less than Erik Zabel and Robbie McEwen in the frantic sprint. The race has been won in the past two years by Quickstep rider Tom Boonen.

Since notching a stage second place at the Etoile de Besseges in early February, Cavendish has been affected by illness, but today he showed the top-end speed that saw him score five podium places and the points competition at last year’s Tour of Britain while riding as a T-Mobile stagiare.

Cavendish commented; ‘I am delighted with the result and really happy with the T-Mobile Team roles this year. This is the first time I had a free role but it was a real team effort. To beat a rider like Robbie McEwen is a dream-come true.’

Sporting director Allan Peiper commented: ‘This result was the fruit of a massive team performance. This is exactly the kind of race profile that suits Mark’s talents, so the rest of the T-Mobile Team did their bit to set him up and lead him out. Mark then showed he has the class to do the rest. I still can’t believe the big names he has beaten here today’

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team
2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
3 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
4 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
5 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
6 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
7 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com
8 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Felt
9 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport
10 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld