(Reuters) – Mark Cavendish gained the 103rd Milano-Torino on Wednesday to change into the first British winner of the 199-km one-day race, the oldest race on the worldwide calendar first held in 1876.
The 36-year-old Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl Team rider completed with a time of 4 hours, 31 minutes and 22 seconds — forward of Nacer Bouhanni (Team Arkea-Samsic) and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux).
“I’m significantly completely happy. This is the right crew for a one-day race. We by no means panicked. My crew mates did a stable race for me right here. This is simply unimaginable the way in which they’ve led me out,” Cavendish stated.
“I like to win any race. I’ve already gained Milan-Sanremo. So now I’ve gained Milano-Torino as effectively. It’s not all the time a race for sprinters, so I’m completely happy to have my title on the identical file e-book as some nice climbers.”
Cavendish loved a exceptional return to kind final 12 months, sprinting to 4 stage wins on the Tour de France to equal the file of 34 set by Belgian nice Eddy Merckx.
But a crash within the Six Days of Ghent monitor assembly in November left the Briton with damaged ribs and a collapsed lung.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
