British sprint star Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) has crashed on today's Giro d'Italia stage 13.
Cavendish, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday, took a tumble with Frenchman Yohann Gene (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) after 20km of racing.
After briefly showing some anger at his bike, the Manxman quickly remounted and re-joined the peloton. He appeared to be relatively unscathed.
Cavendish has ear-marked today's 176km stage from Lido di Camaiore to Firenze as one that he can win. The profile is relatively flat, lending itself to the kind of fast bunch finish showdown that Cavendish relishes.
If Cavendish is successful today it will be his third individual stage win in this year's Giro d'Italia - giving him one more than he achieved in last year's race. It will also give him his 11th win this year, and the 39th in his short-yet-prolific professional career.
You can find a full list of Cavendish's wins in our all-time list of British pro winners.
We will be posting a full report, results and photos immediately after today's stage finish
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Giro d'Italia 2009 links
Stage reports
Stage 12: Menchov storms to Giro TT win and race lead
Stage 11: Cavendish romps to second Giro stage win
Stage 10: Di Luca lays down the gauntlet
Giro rest day review (May 18)
Stage nine: Cavendish blitzes rivals to win in Milan
Stage eight: Siutsou makes it two in a row for Columbia-Highroad
Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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