Cycling: Cavendish takes overall victory

Mark Cavendish: The British sprinter held on for the first overall win of his career (Getty Images)

Team Sky's Mark Cavendish won the Ster ZLM Toer in the Netherlands yesterday – the first general classification win of his career.

The 27-year-old held an eight-second lead over nearest challenger Lars Boom at the top of the standings heading into yesterday's fourth and final stage and he kept that advantage intact as he finished safely in the main pack following a sprint finish.

Germany's Marcel Kittel claimed yesterday's stage having also won on day one, the Argos-Shimano rider finishing ahead of Mark Renshaw in second and Jurgen Roelandts in third, who finished third overall in the race behind Cavendish and Boom.

The Team Sky sports director, Steven de Jongh, said: "Mark is pretty happy with it; I think there should be more in the future too. The guys had another good day – they controlled it throughout for the jersey."