Cavendish captures green jersey at Vuelta

The 25-year-old emulated Malcolm Elliott's efforts in 1989 by holding off the challenge of Tyler Farrar, who won the final stage of the competition.

Cavendish raced to three stage victories in the Vuelta, having claimed five stages at the Tour de France earlier in the year.

On that occasion he was forced to settle for second place in the points standings behind Alessandro Petacchi, but he has provided the perfect tonic for that heartbreak by going one better in Spain.

He will now head to Australia, where he will hope to again write his name in the history books by becoming the first Briton since Tom Simpson in 1965 to win the World Championships.

Vincenzo Nibali won the overall race in 87 hours, 18 minutes, 31 seconds, while Ezequiel Mosquera finished 43 seconds back in second. Peter Velits was third, 3:04 behind the winner.

Stage 21 result
1. Tyler Farrar - Garmin-Transitions - 2:02:24
2. Mark Cavendish - HTC-Columbia - same time (st)
3. Allan Davis - Astana - st
4. Wouter Weylandt - Quick Step - st
5. Matt Goss - HTC-Columbia - st

Overall classification
1. Vincenzo Nibali - Liquigas - 87:18:31
2. Ezequiel Mosquera - Xacobeo Galicia - 0:00:43
3. Peter Velits - HTC-Columbia - 0:03:04
4. Frank Schleck - Saxo Bank - 0:04:45
5. Xavier Tondo - Cervelo - 0:04:54

Source: espn.co.uk