HTC-Highroad’s Mark Cavendish withdrew yesterday (Tuesday, August 23) from the Vuelta a Espana on the race’s fourth stage, the 170.2km run from Baza to the Sierra Nevada. He had fallen behind the peloton on a category one climb in the early stages of the race and finally threw in the towel with approximately 40km still to go; it was clear from the previous day, when he had suffered in the heat, that his heart really didn’t appear to be in the race – possibly because the HTC outfit is being wound up after failing to secure a future sponsor and Cav’s future is rumoured to be with Team Sky. His departure from the Vuelta marks the second departure from the HTC team, following Australian Matt Goss who abandoned proceedings on day one (the Team Time Trial in Benidorm.)
The Vuelta’s fourth stage was won by Spain’s Daniel Moreno of Team Katusha, with Quick-Step’s Sylvain Chavanel currently holding the overall general classification first place with a time of 13h 19′ 09”.
