Cavendish can become the greatest sprinter ever - Zabel

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LA GRANDE MOTTE, France, July 6 (Reuters) - Six-times Tour de France green jersey winner Erik Zabel believes Briton Mark Cavendish, winner of the second stage on Sunday, can become the greatest sprinter of all time.

“I rank him up there in the top three of all time, with (Italian Mario) Cipollini and (Frenchman Andre) Darrigade,” Zabel, an adviser to Cavendish’s Team Columbia, said at the start of the third stage in Marseille on Monday.

The German, who retired last season with 135 victories behind him, knows exactly what he is talking about. On the Tour he won 12 stages, like Cipollini, and only one fewer than Darrigade, the star sprinter of the 1950s. Cavendish won four stages in last year’s race.

“He’s only 24, but if he goes on like this, he can become the greatest sprinter of all time,” he said.

Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton explained Zabel’s role within his squad.

“A guy like him, who rode so many Tours is essential to young riders in the team. It gives them a lot of confidence to have a rider like him around. For them, he’s an idol,” he said.

The German checked the finishes of the stages suiting Cavendish’s skills on this Tour and had warned the Briton about the many tricky roundabouts in the finale of the second stage in Brignoles, which he won.

The victory helped Cavendish wear the green jersey for the first time and Zabel made it clear it was one of his protege’s goals on this Tour.

“I rode many Tours de France and I tell him my little secrets. I won the green jersey six times and I know where you win it but also where you can lose it,” he said.

Zabel said his cooperation with Cavendish reached a turning point in April, when he helped him win his first Milan-San Remo classic, a race the German himself won four times.

“He told me he was fascinated by Milan-San Remo and I told him you’re young, it’s not that easy. We rode the course twice together and I gave him lots of information like, when you see this church, the Cipressa (climb) is only one kilometre away and you should anticipate, that sort of thing,” he said.

Zabel will stay with the Columbia team until Barcelona and return in Limoges “for the flat stages when he needs me”, he said.