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| Mark Cavendish © Gallo Images |
Briton Mark Cavendish won his second straight stage and 25th race of the year on Tuesday in a repeat mass sprint ending to the second stage of the Tour of Missouri.
Cavendish, the six-times stage Tour de France stage winner this year, emerged at the front just before the finish of the 180.9km Sainte Genevieve to Cape Cirardeau road race in four hours, 16 minutes 53 seconds.
The 26-year-old Cavendish, who won three Tour of Missouri stages last year, also extended his slim overall race lead.
Thor Hushovd of Norway and Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina finished second and third, the reverse of the duo's placings in the opening circuit race Monday in St Louis, also won by Cavendish.
American Christian Vande Velde, the defending champion, withdrew just after the start of the second stage.
Vande Velde, eighth overall in the Tour de France, fractured a finger in a late crash but was expected to continue.
Just after the start of the second stage, however, Vande Velde, who also crashed out of the Tour of Italy, pedalled back towards the start and abandoned the third-year event.
Three riders built more than a four and a half minute lead in the second stage, but the fast-paced peloton caught the final two escapees, Francois Parisien of Canada and American Timothy Duggan, on the wide road seven kilometres before the finish.
The $170 000 race continues on Wednesday with the 165.3km Farmington to Rolla road race. The seven-stage event concludes on Sunday in Kansas City, Missouri.
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