Sky flying high with one-two in Ster Elektrotoer

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Team Sky took a one-two in the third stage of the Ster Elektrotoer on Friday, with Gregory Henderson and Russell Downing crossing the finish line in the mass sprint with a clear lead over the rest of the peloton.

Henderson called the finish a “textbook” case. "When Russell took off for the sprint I gave him a bike length or two like I do on the track and then I took a run at it. The speed at the finish was just so high that there was no chance and no time for anyone to come round us.

"Russell ended up coming second - he came straight back in behind me as I'd gapped the guy who was on my wheel."

"It was a textbook finish from all the guys and it's nice to come here, show what Team Sky can do and get a stage win."

Downing was equally pleased. “"I think Columbia came around 2k out over on the left-hand side but didn't get to us and someone else tried on the last corner but we went again with a brilliant train on the front.

"All the guys were doing massive turns and it's good to be part of a lead-out that wins again."

The British team was especially happy about the results in light of their loss on Thursday, when the Henderson finished only 11th.

"We didn't get it right on yesterday's (Thursday's) stage. We just made some simple mistakes but we sat down afterwards, talked it through and vowed to learn from it - and that's exactly what everyone's done. We corrected those simple mistakes today, jockeyed positions around a little bit and it all worked out perfectly.

Saturday is the race's queen stages, running 194 km through the Belgian hills. "Tomorrow is quite a hard stage so we'll see what happens, see who gets in the mix,” Downing said.

"And then on Sunday we'll stick to the same plan to today and try and do it all over again."