"Sprinters: do not leave your lead-out man" - Mark Cavendish admits rookie error cost him result in opening Tour of Turkey sprint

As a sprinter, Mark Cavendish has a built a career very few riders could ever compare. Much of that was due to brilliant and experienced leadout men; but yesterday at the Tour of Turkey the Manx Missile lost an important opportunity as he left the wheel of his teammates.

“It’s the first stage of Tour of Türkiye done. My team rode incredible, and do you know what I did? I left my lead-out man in the final to follow another train. And that was a big mistake, because Ballerini did an incredible job," Cavendish admitted in an Instagram story. On the opening day of the race, guided towards the sprinters, Cavendish entered the final two kilometers in the head of the peloton together with three Astana Qazaqstan Team teammates.

What happened then was that other leadouts got themselves in the head of the peloton and Cavendish lost position. However, helicopter footage allowed us to see that the Manxman followed the wheel of Sam Welsford in the final kilometer instead of Davide Ballerini. Ballerini did reach the front but sprinted for himself later, whilst Welsford did not reach the front - despite the leadout of Danny van Poppel - and neither did Cavendish.

At the end, a 14th place for the Italian and 15th for Cavendish, a lost opportunity on the first day back racing for the Manxman since a recent illness. “So let that be a lesson. All you aspiring bike riders, sprinters: do not leave your lead-out man," he concluded.