Cycling: First tour win for Mark Cavendish

Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish has won the Ster ZLM Toer in Holland – the first general classification win of his career.

The 27-year-old boasted an eight-second lead over nearest challenger Lars Boom at the top of the standings heading into yesterday’s fourth and final stage and he kept that advantage intact as he finished safely in the main pack following a sprint finish, to take the overall win.

Germany’s Marcel Kittel claimed the stage, the Argos-Shimano rider finishing the 163-kilometre ride from Schijndel to Boxtel in a time of three hours, 35.54 minutes.

Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) was second with third spot going to Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol), who also finished third overall behind Cavendish and Dutchman Boom (Rabobank).