Mark Cavendish relinquished his grip on the maglia rosa(Image credit: Sirotti)
Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma QuickStep) lets everyone know where he's from(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish and his Omega Pharma QuickStep teammates(Image credit: Sirotti)
Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma QuickStep) and his daughter on the podium(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mark Cavendish and Paul Smith(Image credit: Sirotti)
Mark Cavendish swapped the pink race leader's jersey for the red points jersey following the team time trial, after his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team finished 17th of the 23 teams in the Giro d'Italia's stage 2.
Cavendish took a 20-second time bonus for his stage win in Naples on Saturday but lost 48 seconds to Team Sky during the technical and very demanding 17.4km team time trial, slipping to 40th in the overall classification after the two days of racing.
"I'm tired and a bit disappointed. For me, not for the team," he said, continuing to defend is teammates from any possible criticism.
"It was a very technical team time trial. You had no chance to get into a rhythm; it was all left, right, up and down. It was difficult for me and the team. We did a good job and the team helped me to get to the finish."
"Team Sky deserved to win. They had a great day and it's good they got the pink jersey. I'm happy I wore it for a day. It's a beautiful jersey."
A warning for Monday
Cavendish compared Ischia to his native Isle of Man, "except it's a bit sunnier," and quickly put a hard day of racing behind him and looked to the rest of the Giro d'Italia, especially Monday's 222km third stage on the Amalfi coast from Sorrento to Marina di Ascea.
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Two late climbs will make it tough for the sprinters but Cavendish could be up there and have a chance for a second stage win.
"Tomorrow is difficult from the start," he warned, knowing all about the twists and turns of the spectacular coast road.
"We'll see what happens. We trained on the coast the other day and it'll be a very fast start. We'll try and stay up there and then we'll see what happens in the finale."
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
