Mark Cavendish (Sky) secured the first stage race victory of his career on the final day of the Ster ZLM Toer in the Netherlands as Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) took stage victory.

Although Cavendish didn’t manage to win a stage over the four-day race, he was perhaps the most consistent of the sprinters on show, and he laid the foundations for his overall victory on the penultimate stage when he was one of the few fast men to survive the pace on a testing day in the Ardennes.

The final stage in Boxtel came down to a bunch finish after both Team Sky and the Rabobank squad of second-placed Lars Boom looked to control affairs and shut down a dangerous move from Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Katusha).

In the finishing straight, it was Marcel Kittel who proved to be the strongest and the young German sprinter will travel to his maiden Tour de France filled with confidence after he took his second stage victory of the race here, beating Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol).

Cavendish came across the line in 16th place, but was pleased to have secured overall victory. “I’ve been second a couple of times in the past but this is my first GC win and I'm really, really happy with it,” he said. “The calibre of some of the sprinters here is incredibly high and while I couldn’t quite get a win today it was about making sure I kept the yellow jersey. I’m really happy.”

Like Kittel, Cavendish now turns his sights to the Tour de France and, of course, to the London 2012 Olympics, where he is the gold medal favourite. “It's pretty much about relaxing now and really looking after myself these next two weeks. You’ve got to start the Tour de France as fresh as possible - especially so this year with the Olympics so soon after."

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