Team Columbia’s Cavendish Wins Opening Stage Of Tour of Ireland

San Luis Obispo, CA, 28 August 2008 - Team Columbia’s Mark Cavendish made his return to road racing at the Tour of Ireland on Wednesday and immediately won again and also pulled on the race leader’s yellow jersey. Cavendish has not raced since retiring from the Tour de France but showed he has not lost his natural high speed sprint. He beat New Zealand’s Julian Dean and Alexander Kristoff of Norway in a bunch sprint after 192km of racing across the spectacular Irish countryside. It was Cavendish’s thirteenth win of the 2008 season and he has now added a stage in at the Tour of Ireland to his two stages wins in the Giro d’Italia and his four stage wins in the Tour de France.