Cavendish wins final stage of Tour of Denmark

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) won the final stage of the Tour of Denmark, overhauling Bryan Coquard (Europcar) in the finishing straight in Frederiksberg.

Cavendish seemed to be boxed in as the sprint began and he had to make up considerable ground in the closing metres to beat Coquard and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and claim his 16th victory of the season.

“It was chaos on the last lap and I had to come from around twelve positions back after the last corner,” said Cavendish, who won in Frederiksberg for the third time in his career.

"This is almost like the Danish Champs-Élysées so of course I am happy to close out the race with this kind of win. When I came here I didn't know how my form would be after the Tour de France. I was still a bit tired, and this race despite being mostly flat in Denmark is hard."

Final overall victory went to Wilco Kelderman (Belkin), who enjoyed an untroubled day in the yellow jersey. Kelderman took possession of the overall lead in Saturday evening’s short time trial and the Dutch youngster successfully defended his 6-second lead over Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol) to seal the win. Matt Breschel (Saxo-Tinkoff) finished in third place overall.

Sunday’s stage was animated by an early five-man break that gained 1:30 over the main peloton. With Omega Pharma-QuickStep keen to set up the sprint for Cavendish, however, and with Belkin eager to keep the race tight in defence of Kelderman’s overall lead, the escapees were never going to be allowed to stay clear.

Sander Cordeel (Lotto Belisol) jumped away from the break inside the final 20 kilometres and was the last survivor out in front, but he was swept up in the finale as Omega Pharma-QuickStep ratcheted up the pace for the grandstand finale. Cavendish duly picked up the win, and will hope to add to his running tally when he returns to action at the Tour of Britain next month. "I’ve raced more than 90 days in 2013, but I am really happy with great support from the team,” he said.

“This has been one of my most successful seasons. It helps going to races with a team like this, because it's like staying with friends. It's always about commitment and I have it from these guys. When you have this kind of commitment as a sprinter you always have a chance to win."

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