ISTANBUL: British sprint star Mark Cavendish of the Omega Pharma team, won the fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey yesterday between Fethiye and Marmaris as Estonia’s Rein Taaramae retained the overall race lead.
It was Cavendish’s third stage win of the race after he took the opening two stages.
Cavendish followed up victories on Sunday and Monday by comfortably beating Argentina’s Maximiliano Richeze of Lampre and his Australian team-mate Mark Renshaw in a sublime sprint finish.
The 132km race was neutralised for a short while early on after heavy rainfall before a five-man breakaway opened up a lead of 3min 30sec on the peloton with just 11km remaining.
They were eventually reeled in as Taaramae, of the Cofidis team, retained the overall leader’s jersey with a margin of six seconds over Adam Yates of Great Britain and Romain Hardy of France.
Tomorrow’s fifth stage will be a 183km ride from Marmaris to Bodrum.
Meanwhile, Michael Albasini of Switzerland won a shortened first stage in front of his home fans on the Tour of Romandie yesterday.
The scheduled 203km ride between Ascona and Sion was reduced to just 88 kilometres because of snow on the Simplon Pass, and Orica-Greenedge rider Albasini triumphed in a sprint after 2hr 11min 11sec ahead of Spain’s Jesus Herrada and Lithuania’s Ramunas Navardauskas.
Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland, who won the prologue in Ascona on Tuesday, retained the overall race lead.
Today’s second stage will be 166.5 km from Sion to Montreux, with the six-day event concluding on Sunday. AGENCIES
