Much of the commentary surrounding Mark Cavendish’s move from Team Sky centred on a perceived lack of support.
Yesterday, Cavendish proved again that he can win alone. The irony was that he did so after his team had proved too strong for the opposition.
With two kilomtres still to go, Cavendish and his team-mates, Niki Terpstra and Iljo Keisse, found their sprint train had become a breakaway, and were forced to allow the peloton to make the catch so launch procedures for the Manx Missile could be restarted.
Fired for a second time, Cavendish worked alone and opened his sprint from a long way out: much as he had done on stage eighteen of the 2012 Tour de France, when he blasted straight past the remnants of a breakaway on his way to the finish line.
Cavendish has always been unstinting in his praise of team-mates and clearly values their support. But when the chips are down, the former world road race champion can do it alone.
The cobbles of the Kemmelberg offered the first major challenge of stage two
Andre Greipel was among those to ‘dig in’ on its fearsome surface
Former national road race champion, Russell Downing (NetApp-Endura), is competing again with the world’s best
When the chips went down, Cavendish proved again he can go it alone
Champagne smiles: Cavendish accepts his rewards
