Mark Cavendish's Giro d'Italia campaign ended on Friday when the Briton was pulled out of this year's race after completing a hat trick of individual victories on the 13th stage, his team said. With some tough mountain stages coming up, Team Columbia said it preferred to remove the sprinter from the Giro so he could concentrate on preparing for July's Tour de France. As well as winning three individual stages, he also helped Colombia win the team time trial that opened the centenary edition of race. Cavendish, who turned 24 on Thursday, also became the first Briton to wear the Giro leader's pink jersey at the start of the race. Denis Menchov of Russia held on to the overall leader's pink jersey. Australian teammate Mark Renshaw again set Cavendish up for the sprint. “I got another perfect leadout from my teammates,” Cavendish said. “They spent a lot of time in the wind and did such a good job that I didn't have to go flat out. I was 80 percent.” Cavendish, the British standout for Team Columbia-High Road, clocked 3 hours, 48 minutes, 36 seconds over the almost entirely flat 176-km leg from Lido di Camaiore to Florence. Alessandro Petacchi of Italy finished second and Allan Davis of Australia was third, both with the same time as Cavendish. Menchov maintained a 34-second lead over Danilo Di Luca of Italy in the overall standings, with American rider Levi Leipheimer third, 40 seconds behind. Menchov, Di Luca, Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong finished with the main pack, eight seconds behind Cavendish. Armstrong has stopped speaking to reporters, apparently angry over the fallout of a rider protest he helped orchestrate in Milan last weekend.
