For the second day in a row, Marcus Burghardt was on the attack in the Tour du Poitou-Charentes and earned the award as the most aggressive rider. The German is using the race to prepare for the world championships.

Marcus Burghardt's desire for a quicker pace and a harder day led to the BMC Racing Team rider earning "most aggressive" honors Wednesday at Tour du Poitou Charentes while holding onto his fifth place overall. 

Burghardt was part of the day's original four-man breakaway and took second in the first intermediate sprint before returning to the peloton. Then, with less than 75 kilometers to go in the 183.6-km race, Burghardt found his way back to the front and was first to the top of one of the day's three categorized climbs.

After the last of Burghardt's escape group was caught inside 20 km to go, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the bunch sprint finish for the second straight day.

"I wanted to race and not just sit in the peloton because I think for the world championships you need some good training and good efforts," Burghardt said. "The race was very controlled today. I'm still happy to be riding in front. It's true that I could not take the ,ountains jersey yesterday, but it was not so frustrating. 

Yesterday I told the other riders that I wanted to be in the break until the first sprints and then I was not going to ride longer. I wanted to save some energy. Today I did not go into the break with the idea of taking my revenge. I'm in this race just to rack up plenty of intensity work. 

"Once I was in the break, I tried to go for the bonuses and KOM sprints. Then I sat up after the last sprint, like yesterday. I was not [sports director] Yvon Ledanois who asked me to set up. Instead, he would have preferred me to stay in front. But I decided to stop. Perhaps we will see me in the break tomorrow. 

"After this race, I hope to get a result in the Grand Prix de Plouay. The main objective of my late season will still be the World Championships."

In the overall standings, Cavendish leads Enrique Sanz (Movistar Team) and Daniel Maxime (Ag2r-La Mondiale) by 14 seconds, with Burghardt at 15 seconds.

Not all the news was good for the BMC Racing Team. Stagiaire Luke Davison was lost to a crash while past Danish national road champion Sebastian Lander was a non-starter after crashing Tuesday.

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said Thursday's double-stage day – a 111-kilometer road race in the morning, followed by a 24.3-km individual time trial in the afternoon – is one for Stephen Cummings. The Tour Méditerranéen winner and Dubai Tour runner-up is a favorite for the time trial and sits 20 seconds off the lead. The race ends Friday with a 191.9-km road race.

"If Steve has good legs, the time trial is perfect for him," Ledanois said. "But if he takes the leader's jersey, I only have three riders to defend it. But that will be my problem," he said, laughing.