LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Mark Cavendish underlined his status as the world's best sprinter and man to beat at next year's Olympic Games by winning the 2012 road race test event through London's streets on Sunday.
The tight and technical route was narrow in places, causing bottlenecks for the competitors and support vehicles trailing behind as the 145-man field set a blistering pace. Briton Cavendish, top sprinter at last month's Tour de France, won the 140.3-km event starting and finishing near Buckingham Palace in a time of three hours 18 minutes 11 seconds.
Sacha Modolo of Italy was second and France's Samuel Dumoulin was third.
Cavendish stuck with the peloton, at one stage six minutes behind an early breakaway led by 2009 British road race champion Kristian House, before staging a customary late charge in a bunch sprint down the Mall.
Manxman Cavendish, whose name has been linked to Britain's Team Sky after his successful HTC-Highroad announced they will fold at the end of the season, was kitted out in a blue outfit with the name of British cycling sponsors Sky emblazoned on it.
Australian Heinrich Haussler, a former Tour de France stage winner, led the peloton back to the breakaway riders as the race re-entered the UK capital's people-lined streets after sections in the leafy western suburbs.
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