Tour of Turkey and Tour of Romandie: Mark Cavendish’s run of wins ended as Chris Froome moves up

Cavendish had racked up three wins in the first four days and his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team appeared to have him in position for another, but Cannondale’s Viviani timed his run perfectly as the Italian raced away to beat Cavendish (Getty Images)

Elia Viviani ended Mark Cavendish’s domination of the sprint stages at the Tour of Turkey yesterday as he pipped the Manxman to the line in the fifth stage in Turgutreis.

Cavendish had racked up three wins in the first four days and his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team appeared to have him in position for another, but Cannondale’s Viviani timed his run perfectly as the Italian raced away to beat Cavendish by two bike lengths.

In the general classification, Cofidis rider Rein Taaramae retained his six-second lead over Briton Adam Yates of Orica-GreenEdge. Cavendish remains in the green jersey as the points leader.

In the Tour of Romandie, Chris Froome moved up to eighth, 19 seconds behind the new leader Michael Albasini of Switzerland in a rain-hit second stage from Sion to Montreux.

Albasini edged out Tony Hurel of France and third-placed Italian Giacomo Nizzolo in a sprint finish to follow up victory in the first stage and leads Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski by five seconds in the overall standings after picking a 10-second time bonus.

“Winning two stages in a row is just fantastic. It’s been a really good day for us,” Albasini said.

Froome won the Tour last year, his success acting as a springboard for victory in the Tour de France later in the summer. His preparations this time have been hit by illness and injury but the 28-year-old Team Sky rider will expect to challenge during today’s mountain stage, a 180km (112 miles) ride from Le Bouveret to Aigle.