Cavendish hands win to team-mate

Briton Mark Cavendish continued his fine form in the Giro d'Italia as he allowed his High Road team-mate Andre Greipel to win stage 17.

Cavendish, who has already won two stages in Italy, eased up in the final metres to let Greipel to take the first major stage victory of his career.

"I owed Andre this for the job he did for me the other day. He deserved to win," said Cavendish, who was second.

Alberto Contador retained his 41-second overall lead from Riccardo Ricco.

Italian Daniele Bennati finished in third place in the stage, but it was Cavendish's selfless gesture in gifting a prestigious stage win to his team-mate that caught the eye.

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"First and second is unbelievable," Cavendish told Cycling Weekly.

"It wasn't something we made up, we didn't decide it going into the sprint, but there were two of us in the last 200m and Andre is really fast, so it was perfect," he said.

"I was just watching Bennati and if he'd started to sprint I'd have gone as well.

"It's great for our team spirit. We showed we can ride a perfect lead out and the whole team was fantastic yet again."

Greipel added: "I think Mark was happy that I won. I did a good job for him when he won and finishing first and second is great for the team.

"It is a team victory, one doesn't win a sprint without it being so."

Stage 17 results:

1. Andre Greipel (Germany, High Road) 3 hours, 27 minutes, 5 seconds.
2. Mark Cavendish (England, High Road) same time.
3. Daniele Bennati (Italy, Liquigas) same time.
4. Erik Zabel (Germany, Milram) same time.
5. Assan Bazayev (Kazakastan, Astana) same time.
6. Alexandre Usov (Belarus, AG2R) same time.
7. Enrico Gasparotto (Italy, Barloworld) same time.
8. Bram De Groot (Netherlands, Rabobank) same time.
9. Alexander Serov (Russia, Tinkoff Credit Systems), same time.
10. Nikolai Trussov (Russia, Tinkoff Credit Systems) same time.

Overall standings:

1. Alberto Contador (Spain) 72 hours, 14 minutes, 40 seconds.
2. Riccardo Ricco (Italy) 41 seconds behind.
3. Gilberto Simoni (Italy) 1:21.
4. Marzio Bruseghin (Italy) 2:00.
5. Franco Pellizotti (Italy) 2:05.
6. Danilo Di Luca (Italy) 2:18.
7. Denis Menchov (Russia) 2:47.
8. Emanuele Sella (Italy) 4:25.
9. Jurgen van den Broeck, (Belgium) 4:26.
10. Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy) 5:25.

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