Cavendish takes final stage of Tour of California

Cavendish, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Saturday, held off reigning world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) to take his first stage victory of the race.

The sprinter followed Sagan's wheel in the bunch sprint in the absence of his Dimension Data team-mates, who had all been used up bringing back the breakaway, before getting into the clear 150m from the line and romping home by nearly three bike lengths.

The victory was only Cavendish's third of the season following stage wins at the Tour of Croatia and Tour of Qatar, and he admits confidence was high going into the final day of racing in Sacramento.

"We had to use our whole lead-out to catch the break, so in the end it was a bit of a case of free styling," he said.

"I was on Sagan's wheel and know this finish really well. I've won here before and knew that, if I was in the right position I should win here."

Sportsbeat 2016