• Tour of Britain, Stage One

Rowe wins after Cavendish crash

ESPN staff
September 9, 2012
Mark Cavendish crashed 1km from the finish © Getty Images
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Mark Cavendish's hopes of opening his Tour of Britain campaign with a victory ended in heartbreak as he was involved in a crash one kilometre from the finishing line.

The world road race champion was well placed to make his trademark sprint to the finish at Norfolk Showground, but was brought down by a mass pile-up, landing hard on his shoulder.

Cavendish dusted himself off to finish, but was well off the pace set by team-mate Luke Rowe, who crossed the line ahead of Boy Van Poppel and Russell Downing to clinch his first professional victory.

After Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins started the race at Ipswich Waterfront, a breakaway quartet consisting of Kristian House, Roy Martias, Jonny Clarke and Niels Wytink opened up a lead of around three-and-a-half minutes.

However, after a largely flat course up the East Anglia coast, the escapees were eventually caught by the chasing pack, with Team Sky's Jeremy Hunt doing much of the leg work at the front of the peloton.

As anticipated a bunch sprint appeared to play into Cavendish's hands, but the Manxman was unable to avoid a the pile-up to see his hopes of victory fade.

It looks set to be Cavendish's last race in Team Sky colours on home soil, after he confirmed on Saturday that he wanted to leave the British team, and he has been linked with a switch to Omega Pharma-QuickStep.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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