"We've got no general classification hopes, no big sprint hopes, so it's save energy and grab a stage.
Despite being best known for his sprinting, Cavendish won his first general classification prize when he took the Dutch Ster ZLM Tour in June.
3.47pm BST Cavendish leads the points classification This IS the intermediate sprint!
There has been much discussion over the merits of the omnium, a new event in the Olympic schedule which combines endurance, sprint and solo disciplines for an overall classification.
Cavendish must now put himself through Thursday's torturous uphill time trial (where no points are at stake) and then two mountain stages, where position of the race finishes and intermediate sprints will surely favour climbers and general classification riders.
McEwen, who swore to the heavens this morning that he was not interested in intermediate sprints as a way of capturing the green points jersey, then won the first of three sprints and briefly replaced Zabel as the classification's leader.
These sprints gave bonus seconds towards the general classification, points towards the regular points classification, and also points towards the Expo Milano 2015 classification.
These sprints gave bonus seconds towards the general classification, points towards the regular points classification, and also points towards the Traguardo Volante Garibaldi.
Peter Sagan, from Slovakia, took an an unassailable lead in the points classification with victory in the intermediate sprint to deny Mark Cavendish a chance of winning the green jersey.
Each mass start stage had one intermediate sprint, awarding points to the Traguardo Volante Garibaldi classification.
