Intro:

British rider Mark Cavendish takes advantage of a crash to win stage six of the Tirreno-Adriatico race on Monday (17th March) - while Spaniard Alberto Contador retains the overall lead after the ride from Bucchianico to Porto Sant'Elpidio.

Script:

The sixth and penultimate stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico got underway in Italy on Monday taking the riders on a 187-kilometre route.

Alberto Contador started the day as the man to catch in the overall classification, with just over a two-minute advantage to Colombian Nairo Quintana.

But it was British rider Mark Cavendish who was able to take advantage of a crash inside the final kilometre to sprint to the stage victory.

With a big crash bringing down several Lotto-Belisol riders, and Marcel Kittel already dropped from the leading group, Cavendish and his Omega Pharma-Quickstep team-mates found themselves with a huge gap at the front on the final straight.

Cavendish covered the mostly flat stage in four hours, 16 minutes, 15 seconds.

It was his second win this season, the 111th of his career, and it sets him up as one of the favourites for Sunday's Milan-San Remo classic.

Cavendish's team-mate and set-up man, Alessandro Petacchi, crossed a distant second and Peter Sagan of Slovakia was third, each with the same time.

Contador's two-minute-and-eight-second lead over Nairo Quintana remains unchanged.

The race ends on Tuesday 18th March with a 9.1-kilometre individual time trial.