Armitstead, Cavendish and Swift make it a Great British weekend

• Monday, 17 May 2010
• Cycling Weekly
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It has been an incredible weekend for Britain's cyclists.

A week after Bradley Wiggins won the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia and pulled on the pink jersey, Ben Swift, Lizzie Armitstead and then Mark Cavendish all followed suit in their respective races.

From Picardie to the Languedoc at the other end of France and then over in California, British riders were on top. Swift, Armitstead and Cavendish all had the pleasure of pulling on a leader's jersey too.

Can anyone remember a weekend when British cyclists enjoyed so much success on the road in a single weekend?

BRITS ON TOP

BEN SWIFT
Saturday, Cires-les-Mello, northern France
Tour of Picardie stage two
Ben Swift won the sprint to take his first victory since joining Team Sky from Katusha. He also took the yellow leader's jersey.
Stage win for Swift>>

LIZZIE ARMITSTEAD
Saturday, Rieux-Minervois, southern France
Tour de l'Aude stage one
Using her track craft and turn of speed, Armitstead outsprinted the rest of a 10-rider break that got away 20 kilometres into the 117 kilometre stage. However, Armitstead lost the lead on Sunday when she punctured early in the team time trial, which her Cervélo squad went on to win.
Armitstead wins at the Tour de l'Aude>>

BEN SWIFT
Sunday, Sissonne, northern France
Tour of Picardie overall
Team Sky controlled things on the final day and Swift sprinted to ninth place to clinch a seven-second victory over Spain's Koldo Fernandez. It was the first general classification win for Team Sky.
Overall win for Swift>>

MARK CAVENDISH
Sunday, Sacramento, northern California
Tour of California stage one
Cavendish won the sprint in California after a text-book lead-out from his HTC-Columbia team. It was his third win of the season and the 54th of his career. The victory also gave him the leader's jersey.
Cavendish wins California opener>>