Cavendish wins 96th Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen

(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT IS TAKEN FROM CYCLINGNEWS.COM. THE FULL STORY, COMPLETE RESULTS AND PHOTOS CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/apr08/scheldeprijs08/?id=results)

High Road’s Mark Cavendish Shines Where He Started!
Overconfident Paris-Roubaix winner finishes second
By Gregor Brown, for cyclingnews.com

Mark Cavendish, 21 year-old from the Isle of Man, returned to Schoten (Antwerp) to repeat in the 96th Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen, site of his first professional win last year. The High Road rider snuck by Tom Boonen, recent winner of Paris-Roubaix, when the Belgian threw his hands up in a premature celebration. Australia's Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto), 2002 winner, ended the day in third.

"I got good form," confirmed Cavendish. "I did not do well in Ghent-Wevelgem last week and I wanted to do something here." He commented on Boonen's bad luck, "Tom put his hands down and I lunged. I don't know if I would have won otherwise. ... My team did a good job today to get me up there."

One year ago Cavendish won his first professional race in Schoten, Belgium, and he was happy to celebrate the one-year anniversary with a win. "It is a special race for me, my first win as a pro came here."

"I sprinted and I thought I had won," noted Boonen. "I didn't see anybody. ... He's very fast and is like McEwen with a great acceleration in the last 50 metres. I have won here two times and we did our best, but it didn't work out this time."

That the Belgian would win seemed inevitable, and his lead-out dropped him off at the perfect moment and he seemingly sprinted to victory, never realizing that the speedy High Road rider was fast approaching on his left. Cavendish nipped past as Boonen began his victory salute to take his second consecutive Scheldeprijs.

The men and women of Team High Road ride the prototype Giant TCR Advanced SL bicycle.

More information about Team High Road can be found at:
http://www.highroadsports.com/