Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) once again proved that he is the fastest sprinter in the Giro peloton as he doubled up his tally in the second big sprint finish of the race. Profiting from a perfect lead-out he held off Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) in a sprint that was - for once - not compromised by a big crash.

There has been much debate as to whether the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team is able to support Mark Cavendish but today the team put the doubts to rest - at least for the time being - as they delivered their fast Brit perfectly at the end of today's seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia. The Manxman  profited maximally from his team's hard work and took another superior win to double his tally after his win on the opening day in Naples.

The sprint was a chaotic one as no team managed to take control of the peloton  in the last kilometres of the stage. With two kilometres to go the mighty Orica-GreenEdge team tried to hit the front but they ran out of power way too early.

Instead it was the Cannondale team which tried to repeat their strong showing in the first sprint in Naples but the Italian team was also unable to keep up the pace all the way to the line. They were overtaken by John Degenkolb's Argos-Shimano train which appeared to have everything under control.

However, the Dutch team had lost their sprinter and instead a moment of hesitation arose where people started to look at each other. This was the signal for Gert Steegmans to start his lead out and Cavendish was perfectly placed in the Belgian's wheel.

With 200m to go the Manxman put down the hammer and Elia Viviani (Cannondale) who was directly in his wheel had to dig really deep just to stay where he was. Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) approached the front rapidly towards the end but the stage was a few meters too short for the French champion and he had to settle for fourth behind Cavendish, Viviani and Matthew Goss.

The sprint came at the end of a rather calm day where a 2-man break was caught early. However, drama arose with 32km to go when a big crash happened in the middle of the peloton and brought down the likes of mountains leader Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Filippo Pozzato (Lampre), Daniel Oss (BMC) and Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge).

Moments before Bradley Wiggins (Sky) had had a puncture and he was chasing behind supported by all his teammates except for Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran. When he reached the site of the crash, he came to a complete standstill and had to wait for more than a minute before he could finally pass the crash scene.

Up ahead the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team  immediately stopped setting the pace but the FDJ team which has been the other team doing the early work refused to wait. A big group led by the Sky team - with Wiggins doing plenty of work himself - had to close a gap of more than a minute before they finally caught up with the front peloton after a 10km chase.

Wiggins was obviously furious and in the final hectic part of the race he appeared to be alone much of the time. With 4km to go he even went to the front himself and took a huge turn which lasted almost 2km to make sure that he stayed out of trouble.

The stage had no impact on the top of the GC and Luca Paolini (Katusha) keeps his 17 seconds lead over second-placed Rigoberto Uran (Sky). He faces a tough stage tomorrow where a difficult stage takes the peloton into the very hilly terrain and over many of the steep ramps that decided this year's Tirreno-Adriatico.

Starting at 14.15 you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

Two riders make up the day's early break

The 169km stage was completely flat and with very few opportunities for the sprinters in this year's Giro there was never any doubt that it would end up in a bunch kick. Hence, no riders were eager to set off in a suicide attack.

Finally after more than 10km, Jack Bobridge (Blanco) and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) escaped and they were allowed to build up a gap of 6.25 before the Omega Pharma-Quick Step and FDJ teams started to chase. For many kilometres Gianluca Brambilla, Serge Pauwels and Laurent Pichon were seen at the head of the peloton and the advantage was quickly brought down to less than 4 minutes.

Intermediate sprint action

While the peloton rolled along at a controlled pace, most riders enjoyed an easy day in the peloton after a number of hard stages. Some action happened at the two intermediate sprints where the Cannondale team gave Viviani a full lead-out. In both cases Cavendish stayed glued to his wheel to pick up points with a minimal effort but he chose not to engage in a sprint with the Italian. In the second sprint he was also beaten by Giacomo Nizzolo (Radioshack) who chose to participate in the contest for points.

The action had brought down the gap to less than two minutes and for a moment the peloton slowed down. As a consequence the gap went up to almost three minutes but Pichon, Pauwels and Brambilla were soon back at the front.

The pace picks up

For many kilometres the gap remained stable between 2 and 3 minutes but when FDJ decided to also put Roux on the front the advantage started to come down. At the same time the big teams started to move to the front in anticipation of the expected crosswinds on the finishing circuit and as a consequence the pace got faster and faster

With 36km to go the front duo was caught and everything seemed to be under control until Wiggins punctured and the big crash took place just as they crossed the finish line to start the first of two laps on the circuit. The subsequent drama lasted 10km but when the Sky-led group had regained contact with the peloton it was once again back to normality.

At the front the big teams all lined out in a hugely nervous peloton but no teams managed to take control until Wiggins hit the front and strung out the group. When he stopped his effort with 2km to go the different sprint trains but no one managed to come out on top in a chaotic sprint from which Cavendish once again emerged victorious.

Result:

1. Mark Cavendish 3.56.03

2. Elia Viviani

3. Matthew Goss

4. Nacer Bouhanni

5. Mattia Gavazzi

6. Manuel Belletti

7. Davide Appollonio

8. Giacomo Nizzolo

9. Matti Breschel

10. Roberto Ferrari

General classification:

1. Luca Paolini 23.52.42

2. Rigoberto Uran +0.17

3. Benat Intxausti +0.26

4. Vincenzo Nibali +0.31

5. Ryder Hesjedal +0.34

6. Bradley Wiggins +0.34

7. Gianpaolo Caruso +0.36

8. Sergio Henao +0.37

9. Mauro Santambrogio +0.39

10. Cadel Evans +0.42

Points classification:

1. Mark Cavendish 58

2. Elia Viviani 52

3. Luca Paolini 35

4. Nacer Bouhanni 31

5. John Degenkolb 30

Mountains classification:

1. Giovanni Visconti 14

2. Stefano Pirazzi 11

3. Robinson Chalapud 9

4. Willem Wauters 9

5. Danilo Di Luca 5

Young riders' classification:

1. Fabio Aru 23.53.57

2. Rafal Majka +0.19

3. Carlos Betancur +0.32

4. Wilco Kelderman +1.06

5. Diego Rosa +1.09

Teams' classification:

1. Katusha 70.55.00

2. Sky +0.24

3. Astana +0.45

4. BMC +1.19

5. Garmin +1.48