Mark Cavendish does not have his full sprint train at his disposal for Tirreno-Adriatico but in Mark Renshaw and Alessandro Petacchi he has one of the best lead-outs he could hope for. Yet, once again, the Omega Pharma-Quickstep train did not click into gear – leaving the Manxman boxed in and his chances of competing for the stage over. Unfortunate to be caught behind Marcel Kittel’s crash, he was unable to recover in time to compete.
The Belgian super team arrived at the ‘Race of the Two Seas’ with a team capable of competing on all fronts. They proved themselves in the team time trial in incredible style, but as at the Dubai Tour, they are yet to prove themselves unbeatable in the sprint. Their time will, undoubtedly, come but if Cavendish is to be his team’s best option at Milan-San Remo later this month, and not Tom Boonen, he will need more effective support.
