Credit: Mario Stiehl

Credit: Mario Stiehl

Credit: Mario Stiehl

Credit: Mario Stiehl

Credit: Mario Stiehl

 

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Cavendish fights back from crash for Irish win number three

August 29, 2008

Columbia's Mark Cavendish fought back from a bad crash in the Tour of Ireland to take his third straight win  - and retain the overall lead.

The 23-year-old sprinter fell heavily when he skidded into a group of riders already on the ground from a previous crash on a downhill section of the 201 kilometre stage from Ballinrobe to Galway.

Cavendish injured his right hip in the accident but despite being hurt could continue, finally taking the win.

His team-mate Adam Hansen, riding just ahead of Cavendish when the accident happened and who also crashed badly, was taken directly to hospital.

Racing in bad weather all day, Cavendish explained that "I'd dropped back on the climb and we were riding in a line for the descent when  the crash happened."

"My wheel slid, I went into them and I came off the bike. It was a narrow road, really there wasn't anything I could do."

"Obviously after that I wanted to get back on as quickly as possible afterwards for the finish, and my team-mates worked really hard to get me back into position with about 10 kilometres to go."

"The group ahead were going all out, so we had to give it a lot just to pull back the gap."

"Then we just controlled it so I could win."

The final sprint to victory itself, ahead of Italian Bernardo Riccio and New Zealander Julian Dean, was straightforward in comparison with what had come before in the stage.

"In fact it was the easiest of the three stages I've won. Form-wise I'm feeling better than I have done all week."

A full assessment of the injuries to Cavendish' hip and pelvis region will be carried out later today. [Friday].

With two stages remaining, in the overall Cavendish is now 20 seconds ahead overall of Dean and 25 seconds up on Norwegian Alexander Kristoff.