Stage 12 - HTC-Highroad’s Mark Cavendish Nets Second Victory in 2011 Giro d’Italia
HTC-Highroad’s Mark Cavendish has powered to his second stage win of the 2011 Giro d’Italia on Thursday.
Already the leader of the 2011 Giro d’Italia for one day and the winner of stage 10, the British sprinter stormed across the finish line at Ravenna ahead of Italians, Davide Apollonio and Alessandro Petacchi.
“Winning today was really important, my team-mates had worked all day with no help at all from any other squad and I wanted to thank them for it by winning,” Cavendish said afterwards.
“They did an incredible job. Then I started up my sprint with 200 meters to go and I managed to get it.”
“I’m really pleased, the Giro is a very important race for me, there aren’t any more sprint stages in this year’s race and I really wanted to get another win here.”
Cavendish said that he had managed to avoid a last-kilometer crash in the bunch because his team had foreseen there could be problems.
“We had seen before the stage, in the route-book, that it might be difficult, we knew we had to be close to the front, and we got through it ok.”
Cavendish’s Giro victory is the 66th professional road win of his career and the fourth of the 2011 season after a stage of the Tour of Oman, the Scheldeprijs and his previous stage win in the Giro. It is also the seventh stage victory of his career in the Giro d’Italia.
Together with the opening team time trial and Cavendish’ previous win, HTC-Highroad have now racked up three stage victories in the Giro d’Italia 2011.
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Stage 10 - Mark Cavendish Claims First Victory in 2011 Giro d'Italia
HTC-Highroad's Mark Cavendish has powered to his first stage win of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, blasting to victory in stage 10 from Termoli to Teramo.
Already the leader of the race for one day, the British sprinter stormed across the finish line ahead of Spain's Francisco Ventoso and Italian Alessandro Petacchi.
"Winning in Italy is massively important for me," Cavendish said.
"It's where I took my first ever Grand Tour stage win and I was
disappointed not to win in Parma, because this is one of my favorite races, really close to my heart."
"I suffered badly in the mountain stages, but I wanted to get through in order to keep winning here."
"We haven't got our most experienced sprint team here, but it is still the same as its always been in terms of heart and commitment. They all gave it one hundred percent and I couldn't ask more from them."
"We controlled the break perfectly and when we came into the finish they were all there."
"I got on Petacchi's wheel, he started accelerating with 250 meters to go, I went with 150 meters to go and then I came past him for the win."
Cavendish's Giro victory is the 65th professional road win of his career, the third of the 2011 season after a stage of the Tour of Oman and the Scheldeprijs and his sixth in the Giro d'Italia.
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Stage 2 - PINOTTI HANDS MAGLIA ROSA TO CAVENDISH
HTC-Highroad will wear the Maglia Rosa for the second consecutive day at the Giro d'Italia after Mark Cavendish sprinted into the lead in Sunday's stage from Alba to Parma.
Cavendish finished second behind Italy's Alessandro Petacchi at the end of the 244 kilometre stage and was able to keep the Maglia Rosa in the team.
"It's great to be back in the lead of a race as big as the Giro and nothing can overshadow that." Cavendish said. "To go into tomorrow's stage wearing a pink jersey is an incredible feeling."
"We did a lot of the hard work today although we got some help at the end, but to be able to keep the maglia rosa in the team for another day is absolutely beautiful."
"The team rode like little motorbikes yesterday in the team time trial and today they were bigger motorbikes."
Cavendish last led the Giro D'Italia back in 2009, following the team time trial victory for HTC-Highroad in the opening stage, and hopes to be back in a bunch sprint battle as soon as tomorrow.
"I absolutely think it's possible, for sure it's not as easy as today and it's a very technical finish, but it could happen, and even the next day too."
"We are content with our Giro d'Italia start. We've got riders who can contend in every single one of the Giro's 21 stages."
Stage 1 - May 7th, 2011: HTC-HIGHROAD TAKES VICTORY AND RACE LEAD FOR PINOTTI IN GIRO TEAM TIME TRIAL
For the second time in three years, HTC-Highroad powered to victory in the opening team time trial of the Tour of Italy, with local rider Marco Pinotti capturing the race lead.
HTC-Highroad completed the 19.3 kilometer course from Venaria Reale to Turin with a ten second advantage over closest rivals RadioShack.
Italy is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its unification this year, and five times national time trial champion, Marco Pinotti was the first HTC-Highroad rider to complete the course, taking the overall lead.
Pinotti finished ninth in last year's Tour of Italy and won the final time trial stage in 2008. He also led the race in 2007.
"It's a huge honor to be wearing the maglia rosa," Pinotti said "But this is a victory that belongs to the whole team. I can't thank them enough."
"We made a very strong start, and the best riders took the longest turns on the front. We made sure we kept a steady pace throughout and that's always important."
"It was flat all the way but it wasn't an easy course, you had to be careful with the tram lines and on the corners, some of them were very difficult."
"But we'd ridden over the race route this morning and we'd prepared everything right down to the last detail."
"Looking at the result, we couldn't have done better. It's a great day for the team."
Already the winner of the Giro's opening team time trial in 2009, HTC-Highroad's victory is the second time in three years that they have taken the first stage of Italy's premier cycling event.
HTC-Highroad men's team have now taken 23 victories in 2011.
PREVIEW: HTC-HIGHROAD AS AMBITIOUS AS EVER IN TOUR OF ITALY 2011
HTC-Highroad returns to the Tour of Italy this May fully intending to repeat their high level of success in the race during the last three seasons, with a total of eleven stage wins as well as spells for their riders in the lead and best young professional competition.
“We’re fielding a top quality line-up, with our first objective being the opening team time trial in Turin.” comments HTC-Highroad’s sports director Valerio Piva.
“In the first twelve stages or so, there are four or five that look certain to end in bunch sprints and afterwards we’ve got Marco [Pinotti] and Kanstantsin [Sivtsov] for the overall classification, with Craig Lewis providing a lot of support for them in the mountains.”
“Marco finished in the top ten last year, and Kanstantsin is one of the most consistent guys around when it comes to the third week of racing in a major Tour.”
The team’s first target will be to repeat their 2009 victory in the stage one team time trial.
“It’s flat, and parts of it are very technical — similar to the one in Venice in 2009. As a lot of it takes place over city roads, it could be slippery and you can’t afford to take risks even if it rains just a little,” Piva points out.
“A lot of it will take place on Turin’s biggest boulevards, so visually, it should be a really spectacular. A high-speed start to the race.”
“We’ve got some top time trial specialists in our line-up, so I think we can be confident of a good result.”
“Italy’s like a second home for Mark [Cavendish] and he’s always loved the race. He’s very motivated and we’ll see what he can do. With the whole team to support him, and with Mark Renshaw as his lead-out man, he’s going to be very difficult to beat.”
HTC-Highroad for the Tour of Italy 2011: Lars Bak (Den); Mark Cavendish (GB); Patrick Gretsch (Ger); Craig Lewis (USA); Marco Pinotti (Ita); Frantisek Rabon (Cze); Alex Rasmussen (Den); Mark Renshaw (Aus); Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Byl).
