Heading into the sprint in today's final stage of the Tour of Turkey, Andrea Guardini was in excellent position as he was sitting on Mark Cavendish's wheel. However, the Brit moved to the left to box the Italian towards the barrier and the Italian admitted that the Brit had played it smartly in the sprint.

As a pure sprinter, Andrea Guardini has often proved that he is one of the best riders in the world in the short, flat circuit races that often end the national tours and so he was automatically one of the favourites in today's final stage of the Tour of Turkey that ended in Istanbul. Having finished 2nd one day earlier and 2nd in the same stage one year ago, the Italian was by many tipped to finally come away with a big win in Astana colours.

Guardini managed to position himself perfectly on the wheel of Mark Cavendish when the Brit was again given the perfect lead-out and when the pair launched their sprints, he had a formidable chance of beating the Brit as he did two years ago in the Giro d'Italia. As he tried to pass him on the left, however, Cavendish made a move to close him towards the barrier, denying him the chance to sprint.

“I tried again but I failed again," Guardini said. "I knew the wind was coming from the right. But the shape of the last turn pushed Cav to close the door to my right. He blocked me along the fences and I did not have the strength to pass him before he blocked me.

"I might have tried the other side of the road. But when his team leads him out like they did today, he’s very hard to beat. At the red flame, I was ideally placed in his wheel, but I was already at full speed.

“I’m really satisfied with the improvement in my condition this week, and the team rode very strongly throughout the Tour of Turkey. For sure we would have liked a victory, but this was a very hard race for sprinters."