Cycling sprint sensation Mark Cavendish paid tribute to his Columbia team-mates after cruising to victory in the second stage of the 2009 Tour de France.
Cavendish said before the Tour began that he was targeting stage victories and he is off the mark almost immediately after winning in Brignoles, powering away from second-placed Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream. Roman Feillu of Agritubel was third and Thor Hushovd of the Cervelo Test Team fourth.
Speaking to ITV Sport's Ned Boulting before taking his place atop the podium, Cavendish said:
"It's brilliant. I said I was in good form. You could see the team were motivated for the sprint. All nine of us were riding on the front at the end. We were the only sprint team for a while riding with Saxo-Bank and then Cervelo came and rode with one guy.
"But when we put two guys in it showed we mean business. Today we meant business and I'm happy to finish it with a win.
"It was pretty ferocious up there, a lot of guys were scrapping," Cavendish added. "Tour sprints are a lot different to other sprints, they're a lot faster, and with guys already on the limit 3 or 4k out and it's going to cause problems.
I was nearly down a couple of times but luckily I was put in a good position by my team and was able to stay out of trouble."
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