It was nine years since his last win at the Giro d'Italia, and 14 years since the first of his career, but Mark Cavendish showed that he's far from hitting retirement as he swept to a victory on Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia.
The Manxman had to launch his sprint early from the front, but he was able to hold off his sprinting rivals as he outlasted them to the finish of the 201-kilometre stage in Balatonfüred.
“I am very happy," said Cavendish post-stage.
"We really wanted to do good in the first bunch sprint, and that’s exactly what we did.
"I’m so delighted with this great victory, 14 years after my first one here and nine years since my last success in this amazing race that I love so much.”
The QuickStep Alpha Vinyl leadout train did its job in the final kilometres, emerging in the final kilometre with four men with just a kilometre to go.
They held their lead all the way to the finish with Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) threatening, but ultimately failing, to pass Cavendish.
“The boys were phenomenal today, the way they protected me and controlled the peloton was just outstanding," Cavendish said.
"I knew I had to deliver with such a fantastic team around me and I’m content I could do it. Everyone was so committed today. In the sprint, things were hectic, but Michael remained super cool all the time.
"Then I had to go long in the end, with 300 metres left, but I had the legs to do that and I’m happy I could hang on for that long.”
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) retained the pink jersey as overall leader, as he turned from leader into support rider as he attempted to leadout Jakub Marecko to the win, though the pair became separated at the finish, with Marecko a fast-finishing fifth.
Earlier in the stage, it was an easy formation of the breakaway, with Samuele Rivi (Eolo-Kometa) jumping away with the breakaway duo for the opening stage, the Drone Hopper-Androni pair of Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani.
They built a lead of five minutes but some limited action with a threat of crosswinds kept the main teams attentive at the front of the race and the leader's advantage was reduced to two minutes, where it hovered for much of the rest of the race.
Gaviria and Démare were on the hunt for points at the intermediate sprint, and claimed the maximum available on the line after the breakaway had gone through, Gaviria fourth and Démare fith.
The breakaway was reeled in for good with 28 kilometres remaining as the peloton swept along the shores of the picturesque Lake Balaton.
The only categorised climb came with 13km to go and was only a short rise that wouldn't affect the finale.
Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma) used the grassy verge to move up and attack, and mountains jersey incumbent Rick Zabel (Israel-Premier Tech) followed.
Zabel led out the sprint for the top of the climb, but Eenkhoorn came round and drew level on mountains points, although Zabel remained in the blue jersey on the podium as the higher placed rider on the general classification.
The sprint trains then came to the fore as the pace picked up into the flat final kilometres, though the battle only really began with four kilometres to go as teams fought for the front. The lead seesawed between Alpecin-Fenix and QuickStep Alpha Vinyl before the latter powered into the final kilometre at the head of the race.
Alpecin-Fenix led a disjointed train to the head of the race, with QuickStep's Davide Ballerini responding to up the pace and keep Cavendish in contention. Despite continued challenges from Groupama-FDJ and others, it was Cavendish who was at the front with 300 metres to go and launched his sprint with Démare in his wheel.
The Frenchman had every chance to pass Cavendish with the advantage of the slipstream, and Gaviria also appeared to be coming fast, but they lost out to the staying power of Cavendish, who held them off to the line as he claimed his 16 Giro d'Italia victory and the 160th of his career.
Australian Caleb Ewan's Lotto Soudal leadout train got completely lost during the final kilometres, with Ewan going into the final few hundred metres outside the top 20 riders and finished very fast to secure eighth on the stage.
The Giro d'Italia head into a rest day as the riders travel to Sicily to continue the race with Stage 4, the first mountain summit atop volcano Mt Etna. Watch from 8.15pm AEST on SBS On Demand, with the SBS broadcast starting at 11.00pm AEST (WA viewers can watch on SBS VICELAND from 9.00pm AWST).