Columbia-High Road’s Mark Cavendish nipped Cervelo TestTeam’s Heinrich Haussler at the finishing line to win the Milano-Sanremo classic Saturday in Italy.

See the race finish here

Cavendish hauled himself over peaks and through valleys to keep in contact with the leading group in the 185-mile classic, in which a certain seven-time Tour de France winner was unable to keep up with the first group.

Cavs isn’t a climber; he’s a sprinter — the best in the world — yet the curse of every sprinter is that while they can haul in the short term, they suffer getting over the hills. This is why a pure sprinter will never win the Tour de France, and why there’s a green jersey for the sprinter’s to compete for in France as a consolation prize. But the sprinter who can stay in contact with the leading group has a good chance of winning the strong-man spring classics, world championship races and Olympics events — all one-day events.

Before Saturday’s race, Cavendish had talked about going to Milano-Sanremo to gain experience, being as he’s only 23. Yet, he had the determination and the form to stay with the big boys over the hills, with the help of Big George Hincapie and his Columbia-High Road teammates, and win the whole shooting match.

“I really didn’t expect to win. It’s unbelievable,” the Associated Press quoted Cavendish as saying. “Hincapie and the entire team helped me on the climbs. I was a bit worried when I saw Haussler take off, but I was able to pass him.”

Cavendish relished another victory over chief sprinter rival Big Tom Boonen, who reportedly talked trash about Cavendish at Tirreno-Adriatico, where Cavendish won the final stage. Boonen reportedly made a crack about Cavdenish not being able to get over the climbs.

According to Velonews.com, when asked about this Saturday, Cavendish said: “Absolutely, I knew what they were saying after Adriatica-Tirreno. Tom Boonen said I was getting dropped on all the climbs. If you count the times I got dropped in Tirreno, it was one time, no other times. I knew I had to play it easy in Tirreno, because I knew I had good form and a good team. One of the sweetest things today was seeing Tom Boonen go past me backwards on the climbs.”

Cavendish finished the race Saturday in 6 hours, 42 minutes, 45 seconds, at an average speed of 27.54 miles per hour.

Otherwise, twas another strong outting by the Cervelo TestTeam boys — sprinters Haussler and Thor Hushovd, who finished second and third. Armstrong, meanwhile, got dropped and rolled in with the gruppeto, some 8 minutes after Cavendish’s victory.

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