Britain's Mark Cavendish enjoyed his first stage win at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday, with a high-speed sprint finish.

The 21-year-old from the High Road team beat Germany's Robert Foerster and Italy's Daniele Bennati after lone breakaway Rik Verbrugghe was caught 16 km from the end of the 181-km stage.

Italy's Franco Pellizotti of the Liquigas team retained the overall race lead and will wear the pink jersey during Wednesday's 203-km fifth stage from Belvedere Marittimo to Contursi Terme.

"This the biggest win of my career," Cavendish told reporters.

"To come to the Giro and win is big for any rider but my first ever win was made sweeter by the way my team mates worked.

"They had faith in me, waited for me and took me back up to the sprinters after I was dropped on the last climb.

"It was a perfect show of team work and the only thing I could do was finish it off with a win."

Cavendish has won 16 races in the last 18 months but said he was not the best sprinter in cycling.

"I'm definitely not the strongest. I'm not even in the top ten of strong sprinters. But my age plays an important factor.

"I'm able to accelerate pretty well and I'm probably the fastest in the last 200 metres. The problem is that I've got to be up there to be able to win."

Cavendish turned professional in 2007 with the Germany T-Mobile team but first became a successful rider on the track with the British Cycling Federation.

He won the Madison world title with Bradley Wiggins at the track world championships in Manchester in March and will compete in the same event at August's Beijing Olympics.

"After winning in Manchester I think we're one of the favourites and if we work hard we can come away with a gold medal," he said.

Reuters