'Like chess on wheels' - Mark Cavendish on being neither the fastest nor strongest sprinter after Giro d’Italia Stage 3

After taking the 16th stage win of his career at the Giro d’Italia, Mark Cavendish says there are many different ways to win a race and it is not always down to brute strength. Sprinting ahead of the peloton, the 36-year-old fought off competition from Arnaud Demare (Groupama FDJ), Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirate) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) to win the first sprint finish of the 2022 edition, nine years on from his last appearance at the event.

Ad/> Cavendish thinks, tactically, he got it spot on in Hungary, saying, “I think there are a few guys who are just as strong and fast, the strongest and fastest doesn’t necessarily mean the best. I’ve never been that but I win.

Caleb has the fastest legs, Fabio (Jakobsen) is the strongest, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you win bike races.” Giro d'ItaliaOpinion: Cavendish still probably won't go to the Tour, but he's now closer than he was14 HOURS AGO /> Speaking about how he overcame the competition, Cavendish said, “you work out how to be the strongest and fastest on the road.” He was also full of praise for his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl teammates, saying, “If you have the guys on that list, it leaves me full of confidence.” His team includes Michael Morkov on lead-out duty, while James Knox, Mauro Schmid, Pieter Serry, Bert Van Lerberghe, Davide Ballerini and Mauri Vansevenant also feature in the line-up. /> “I know it’s on me, I know I’ve got the best group of guys around me, there are no excuses.

I haven’t had a full team like this year like Fabio, so it’s nice to get that at the Giro”, he said. Remarkably, the reason Cavendish is racing at the Giro d’Italia is because his team are not currently planning to take him to the Tour de France, with Jakobsen their preferred