Cavendish celebrates his stage win after breaking the line first

The Briton, who rides for T-Mobile, won stage two of the Tour of Catalunya thanks to a late burst to the line.

"I would have liked to have won yesterday to celebrate my birthday, but today's just as good," said Cavendish.

"It was a tough sprint, uphill with a tricky finale, so I waited until about 50 metres to go before I accelerated."

The Isle of Man rider almost missed out, but ultimately saw off Aussie Aaron Kemps to seal victory in the 170km leg from Salou to Perafort, with Leonardo Duque of Colombia in third.

"After getting knocked off my line I managed to get back in and went all out and I'm really pleased with the win."

Sprint specialist Cavendish, 22, is enjoying a highly successful first full season with the T-Mobile team.

He took two stages of the recent Four Days of Dunkirk event in France to claim the overall points jersey and held off a world-class field to win the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen one-day race in Belgium.

But Cavendish is playing down his success by pointing to the example of one of his cycling heroes, the Australian Robbie McEwen.

"McEwen won eight European races in his first season," said Cavendish. "There's unfinished business there."

Spain's Imanol Erviti holds the overall race lead in the Tour of Catalunya, which finishes on Sunday in Barcelona.