CAVENDISH WINS TOUR OF BRITAIN PROLOGUE

Click here to view a gallery of photos from the Tour of Britain prologue

Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) showed he is more than just a successful sprinter by storming to victory in the prologue time trial at the Tour of Britain in Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.

Most riders stopped the clock in just over two minutes and thirty seconds but Cavendish used his track skills and sprinting speed to set a time of 2-27.61 for the 1.6 miles circuit. Nikolai Trusov (Tinkoff Credit Systems) was the only other rider under 2-30, finishing second at one second. His team mate and compatriot Alexander Serov was third at three seconds.

It was Cavendish?s ninth win of his amazingly successful debut season with T-Mobile and gave him and the team a great start to the Tour of Britain. Cavendish is the first British rider to lead his home stage race since the Tour of Britain was re-established in 2004. The 22 year-old Manxman had been suffering with a tooth problem last week but now leads overall by a second.

To keep the yellow jersey he will have to fight for the bonus seconds in the three intermediate sprints and in the expected sprint finish in Southampton on Monday but as we have all seen so often this season, Cavendish loves a fight and is determined to win again as soon as possible.

TOUR OF BRITAIN 2007: PROLOGUE RESULTS

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T- Mobile 2.5km in 2-27.61

2 Nikolai Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems at 1.21

3 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems at 3.63

4 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS at 3.85

5 Luke Roberts (Aus) CSC at 4.24

6 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) T- Mobile at 4.42

7 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld at 4.56

8 Edward Clancy (GBr) Great Britain at 5.77

9 Christopher Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk at 5.91

10 Emilien Berges (Fra) Agritubel at 6.33

RELEVANT LINKS

Click here to view a gallery of photos from the Tour of Britain prologue

Cavendish: Surprised by prologue win

Cavendish wins Tour of Britain prologue

Tour of Britain 2007 preview

Official site: www.tourofbritain.co.uk.