Cycling: Cavendish forced to dodge traffic

(Getty Images)

Mark Cavendish's miserable Tour Down Under continued yesterday after Australian police mistakenly reopened the route to traffic before he had finished stage three of the race.

The Isle of Man sprinter, who has won 15 stages on the Tour de France, took to the 129km course between Unley and Stirling still sporting cuts and bruises from a crash on Wednesday, and was so far back on Thursday's stage that police escorting the last three riders reopened the route, forcing Cavendish to dodge cars before finishing the race in 130th place, leaving him 131st and last overall.

Australian Matt Goss, a team-mate of Cavendish at HTC Highroad, reclaimed the leader's jersey after placing third on stage three. Goss finished behind compatriot Michael Matthews and defending champion Andre Greipel, but regained the overall lead from another Australian, Robbie McEwen.