Cavendish celebrates his Belgian victory

The 21-year-old from the Isle of Man, who is in his first season with the T-Mobile team, edged out Australian Robbie McEwen in a sprint finish.

A delighted Cavendish said: "I have the biggest respect for McEwen and I want to sprint like him."

Previous winners of the race include McEwen, Eddy Merckx, Mario Cippolini, Erik Zabel and Tom Boonen.

Cavendish's team manager, Allan Peiper, said: "This is exactly the kind of race profile that suits Mark's talents, so the team did their bit to set him up and lead him out.

"Mark then showed he has the class to do the rest. I still can't believe the big names he has beaten here."

Results
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR) T-Mobile 4hr 09min 00sec
2. Robbie McEwen (Aus) same time
3. Gert Steegmans (Bel) s.t.
4. Wouter Weylandt (Bel) s.t.
5. Graeme Brown (Aus) s.t.
6. Claudio Cucinotta (Ita) s.t.
7. Erik Zabel (Ger) s.t.
8. Baden Cooke (Aus) s.t.
9. Daniel Musiol (GER) s.t.
10. Steven Caethoven (BEL) s.t.