Tour of Italy: veteran Mark Cavendish offers himself a "sweet sixteen"

Faster than Arnaud Démare and Fernando Gaviria, the Briton signed his sixteenth stage success in the "corsa rosa" after 201 monotonous kilometers around the emerald waters of Lake Balaton before a transfer day on Monday.

Neither the Frenchman nor the Colombian could bring up the veteran who will celebrate his 37th birthday in less than two weeks.

"I had to start the sprint 300 meters from the line. I had to stay ahead then, I'm happy to have managed to hold on to win," savored Cavendish, winner for the 160th time in the of the professional peloton on Saturday.

The man from the Isle of Man did not fail to thank his team and in particular "Morky", namely the Dane Michaël Morkov, one of the very best pilot fish in the world, who had already largely supported in July to allow him to equal Eddy Merckx's record for stage victories in the Tour de France (34).

The Giro peloton, reduced to 175 riders, lost an element with the abandonment of the Slovenian Jan Tratnik who fell on Friday, who resolved to get off his bike a few kilometers after leaving the colorful city of Kaposvar.

The pace of the race was not in question since, with an hourly average of 40.7 km/h, the runners reached the finish on the shores of Lake Balaton ten minutes behind the latest time .

"Chi va piano, va sano e va lontano" (who wants to travel far spares his mount), they say in Italy, which the runners join on Monday.

The Verona arena is still far away and only crumbs of the more than 50,000 meters of elevation gain announced by the organizers in three weeks of racing have been swallowed.

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel still pink jersey of the Giro after the 3rd stage, May 8, 2022 in Balatonfüred Luca Bettini AFP

The "maglia rosa" Mathieu van der Poel, "happy to take the stuff to Italy" was not worried but he probably lived his penultimate stage in pink.

After the day of rest and especially of transfer which will allow the runners to land in Catania, the road will rear up on Tuesday with a volcanic arrival at the top of Etna (22.8 km at 5.9% average gradient).

© 2022 AFP