Tour of Denmark: Win for Cavendish on stage 6

Mark Cavendish brought the Tour of Denmark to a successful close for Team Sky with victory on the final stage.

The world champion received the full backing from the team on the closing test as they set about chasing down the day’s breakaway. Cavendish repaid that effort with a powerful sprint to take top honours on stage six in Frederiksberg, holding off the attentions of Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) at the line.

The result marked a strong return for Cavendish following an extended break after the Olympics and represented his 12th victory of the season. For their efforts over the five days Team Sky also took away the team classification award.

The sprint finish allowed Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) to safely hold on to his overnight lead, the Dutchman clinching the yellow jersey by 19 seconds over nearest rivals Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp).

Mark Cavendish, “The team controlled the race the whole way. The lads had great faith in me and delivered me to the line perfect. I’m really happy to get the win and repay their hard work, especially as I haven’t been in the best form recently. I won here in 2007 as well as winning the rainbow jersey in Denmark and it’s great to come back here and win here again.”

Servais Knaven, Team Sky Sports Director: “It was the perfect way to finish off the race,” he said. “The team were incredibly strong and controlled the race the whole day. After 25km we started riding and chased down a small breakaway. We are really happy with the performance here. It’s been a good week.

The plan was to win a stage with Cav and Lars-Petter winning the queen stage was a real bonus. We’ve also taken two top-10 finishes and the atmosphere here has been really good. The guys coming back off the track could work on their legs and everybody came out better and better every day.”

STAGE RESULT
1. Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) 3:31.56
2. Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) +0″
3. Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) +0″

OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) 20:41.47
2. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp) +10″
3. Maunele Boaro (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) +14″