Mark Cavendish claimed his second successive stage victory at the Tour of Turkey to remain the overall leader after a sprint finish in Antalya.
The Etixx-Quick-Step rider, who also sprinted to victory in the opening stage on Sunday, keeps hold of the turquoise jersey after crossing the line in front of Lampre-Merida’s Sacha Modolo despite nursing a slow puncture.
Etixx-Quick-Step had six riders to the fore with five kilometres remaining and three with 1.2km to go before Mark Renshaw produced his trademark burst to put Cavendish in the clear with 200m left.
“At a corner with about 5km to go my wheel went from me and I thought to myself ‘that’s not good’ as I lost my balance,” Cavendish, who has eight victories this season, told the Etixx-Quick-Step website. “The wheel was spongy. It wasn’t totally flat but it was a slow leaking puncture.
“I thought about stopping to get a new wheel, but we were already on our third guy of the train. If I stopped, we were one man short for Mark Renshaw. So I thought I’d give it a crack. I went easy for the final corners. I had confidence in my team-mates. If they kept me in the front on the corners I’d be okay, and they did just that.
“I feel like I am about the same condition as I was this time last year. After a month without racing you can be sure you’ve got good form but you can never know exactly where you’re at. I knew before I even won I was feeling good.”
