Cavendish wins the third stage of the Tour of Qatar

Mark Cavendish continued his fine start with Omega Pharma-QuickStep on Tuesday (February 5) by winning a sprint finish to take the third stage of the Tour of Qatar.

The Briton opened his sprint with 350 metres of the 143km stage between Al Wakra and Masaieed to go, passing first Aidis Kruopis of Lithuania and then fast-finishing Dutchman Barry Markus to take the win.
The victory moves Cavendish into fourth place overall, eight seconds behind race leader Brent Bookwalter of the U.S. who finished the stage safely amongst the peloton.

Bookwalter’s BMC team mates Taylor Phinney of the U.S. and Britain’s Adam Blythe are in second and third place respectively overall.