A maiden yellow jersey for Mark Cavendish at the Tour de France, in his mother’s hometown of Harrogate, looked finally to be on the cards as Omega Pharma-Quickstep hit the front in the final few kilometres.
How quickly it can all change in cycling.
Of course, it was not to be for the Manxman – the team losing their momentum when Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) made a solo bid for glory, before Cavendish crashed heavily as he jostled desperately for position with Fabian Cancellara.
His injury subsequently ruled him out of the rest of the Tour, the Commonwealth Games and RideLondon too, before he also missed out on a spot at the Vuelta a Espana.
Instead, Cavendish has been looking to recapture his form in France ahead of the Tour of Britain – and it has been a case of so far so good for the Omega Pharma-Quickstep man.
Victory on stage one, his tenth stage win of the season, put him into the leader’s jersey and he again sprinted to victory – backed by a sprint train which includes lead-out man Mark Renshaw, on stage two.
He could not seal a hat-trick – Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) taking the third stage – but the form is clearly there for the Manxman, just in time for him to look at adding to his ten career Tour of Britain wins next month.
