The Manx Missile is Back: Cav Wins for First Time in Three Years

Our “don’t talk about the Tour of Turkey” resolve has waned. Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) has won the second stage of the race from a bunch sprint, taking his first victory since February 8, 2018. The 144.9km stage finish in Konya with a blisteringly fast sprint, and Cavendish soared past Scheldepris winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) to take the win and the leader’s jersey.

Cavendish has been threatening to return to his top-tier sprinting self since he switched teams to Deceuninck-Quick Step this season. He finished third in Scheldeprijs to take the record for podiums in that race, though Philipsen and his Alpecin-Fenix team surprised Cavendish and Bennett, and the Quick Step pair were likely considering that victory could’ve been very possible.

There was little else to report about the stage. The peloton caught the break at 9.7km to go, then the sprinters’ teams got organized. Jasper Philipsen looked to have done enough to win the stage, but the explosive acceleration that Cavendish had been lacking for three years returned with force. He came over the top of Philipsen for an historic win.

At the finish line, Cavendish embraced recently-returned Fabio Jakobsen. A beautiful, emotional moment for many, many reasons.