Cavendish makes it two-in-a-row in Vuelta

Mark Cavendish claimed his second successive stage victory in the Vuelta a Espana today after winning a sprint finish in Burgos.

Cavendish, who won yesterday's race after a misjudgement by his chief rivals left him with an unchallenged run to the line, took advantage of more good work by HTC-Columbia team-mate
Matt Goss in the final straight to take stage 13 ahead of Thor Hushovd and Daniele Bennati.

After leadout man Goss, who finished third yesterday and 11th today, peeled away to the left having put Cavendish at the head of the sprint, the British star kept his rivals trailing in his wake before bunny-hopping across the finishing line in celebration.

Despite Cavendish winning consecutive stages the overall classification remains the same, with Spaniard Igor Anton of Euskaltel-Euskadi still boasting a lead of 45 seconds over Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) at the head of the standings.

Another Spaniard, Xavier Tondo (Cervelo Test Team) is in third spot, 64 seconds behind Anton.

Earlier on the 196-kilometre race from Rincon de Soto to Burgos a group of five riders - Allan Davis, Olivier Kaisen, Manuele Mori, Niki Terpstra and Giampaolo Cheula - broke away around the 30km mark and built an advantage of almost eight minutes at one point.

However, with HTC-Columbia, Garmin and Quick Step pushing hard at the front of the peloton, the leading quintet saw their advantage gradually reduced and they were caught with around four kilometres to go the finish, setting up the stage for the sprinters.

Nicolas Roche rolled home in 34th place, clocking the same time as Cavendish. The Irishman continues his steady climb up the overall standings, moving from ninth to seventh place, but remains two minutes 30 seconds off the outright lead.

Cavendish, wearing the green jersey of the points classification leader, again paid tribute to Australian Goss for the role he played in today's success, which was the Manxman's 22nd grand tour stage victory.

'Matt was going so fast, I was struggling to stay on his wheel at times,' said the 25-year-old Cavendish on his team's website, www.highroadsports.com.

'He dive-bombed down the side of the bunch and got me into the perfect position. Normally I'd go with 250 metres to go, but I had to hold it until 170 metres this time. Hopefully he'll get a stage win as well before the race ends.'

Tomorrow's 14th stage of the Vuelta sees the competitors go from Burgos to Pena Cabarga, a ride of 178 kilometres. The 21st and final stage is in Madrid on Sunday, September 19.