Briton Cavendish abandons Tour of Spain

SIERRA NEVADA, Spain, (Reuters) – British  sprinter Mark Cavendish pulled out of the Tour of Spain with  around 60 kms remaining in yesterday’s fourth stage.

Cavendish, who won the Tour de France’s green jersey in  July, had lost time on the main peloton on all the stages so far  in the race and on Monday his team said he was suffering badly  in the extremely hot weather.

He is the second HTC-Highroad rider to quit after Australian  Matt Goss abandoned on stage one.

“He’s not ill, he had no power left in his body and he was  totally empty,” Cavendish’s sports director Jens Zemke told  Reuters. “He was dropped on a climb and so far from the finish,  he had no chance to survive.

By contrast Bradley Wiggins, Britain’s first winner of the  Tour de France points jersey this year, enjoyed a successful  day. Wiggins had previously described the 23 kms final climb of  Sierra Nevada as the first big test of his battle for a high  general classification placing in Madrid.

After his Sky team had led the pack in the final segment of  climbing, the 31-year-old Londoner finished comfortably with all  the main contenders, 11 seconds down on stage winner Daniel  Moreno.