Mark Cavendish is confident of claiming more wins at this
year's Tour of Britain after his fledgling partnership with Alessandro Petacchi
worked perfectly to set up a first victory on stage four in Llanberis.
Cavendish was ushered through a hectic finish by veteran
Italian Petacchi and went on to seal a comfortable triumph over second-placed
Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and third-placed Steele von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp).
Petacchi is still bedding into the Omega Pharma -
Quick-Step team after joining last month, but Cavendish has been impressed with
what he has seen so far and is now high on confidence ahead of potential sprint
finishes on stages seven and eight this weekend.
"We have been rivals a lot of my career,"
Cavendish said. "He [Petacchi] is an old guy, but he is a really good guy
and has settled in brilliantly to this team.
"Obviously, I want to ride in my home race, but it
was a big factor for me that he was riding here, to see how we worked together,
and it is working OK.
"There are still a couple of more sprints to go and
hopefully we do well at the weekend."
Wiggins happy
Bradley Wiggins followed Cavendish over the line in the
peloton on stage four to retain his overall lead of the race.
However, that did not tell the full story of a difficult
day in which his Team Sky colleagues were forced to spend the whole stage on
the front of the bunch and work hard to chase down an 11-man breakaway.
"It is another day ticked off because there are no
easy days in the Tour of Britain."
Wiggins, who leads team-mate Ian Stannard by 37 seconds
in the general classification, said: "It always looks easier than it is,
but it was tough out there. There was a lot of wind and cold weather, but the
boys did an incredible job.
"They rode all day to keep the gap at about three or
four minutes, and then on the final climb, Ian took it up and did a really
impressive job. The attacks started coming but I was always riding just a
little bit within myself.
"I knew the run-in as well because Sir Dave
Brailsford lived in this town and it is another day ticked off because there are
no easy days in the Tour of Britain."
Wiggins is now turning his attentions to Thursday's fifth
stage, which ends with two ascents of the tough, category-one climb of
Caerphilly Mountain.
"From an emotional point of view, it is one of my
best days in cycling, that is for sure."
Brailsford emotional
"I recce'd tomorrow's stage last week and it's a
tough one, with two ascents of Caerphilly," Wiggins added. "Everyone
knows it and it is become a bit of a legendary stage now on the Tour of
Britain, but my legs are all right."
The stage was not only special Cavendish and Wiggins.
Team Sky principal and British Cycling performance director Brailsford grew up
in Llanberis and he admitted to being emotional at seeing one of his Great
Britain riders claim victory.
"When I grew up here, there was no cycling," he
explained. "There was nothing. I played football on the local football
pitch just over there.
"This is where I grew up and when you have a life
like mine, where you move everywhere, you haven't got homes really.
"This feels like home to me. To come back here and
Cav winning here, it is nuts really. It is pretty special for me. From an
emotional point of view, it is one of my best days in cycling, that is for
sure."
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