Aidis Kroupis on podium at Tour of Qatar as Mark Cavendish wins

AIDIS Kroupis has sprinted onto the podium in a stage of the Tour of Qatar won by Manx Missile Mark Cavendish overnight.

Mark Cavendish

A DAY after Leigh Howard raced to Australian team Orica GreenEDGE's second win of the year, team-mate Aidis Kroupis has sprinted onto the podium in a stage of the Tour of Qatar won by Manx Missile Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish, a multiple Tour de France stage winner whose lean form so early in the season has caused surprise, survived a rough-house sprint to win the 143km third stage of the early season Tour with Australian Heinrich Haussler finishing fifth.

Krupis, from Lithuania, delivered GreenEDGE another podium result when he finished in the wake of Cavendish and Dutchman Barry Markus.

His third followed on from Howard's win in a stage of Challenge Mallorca _the second for GreenEDGE in two weeks following Simon Gerran's win in the recent Tour Down Under in Adelaide.

American Brent Bookwalter, a team-mate of Cadel Evans at BMC Racing, continues to lead the Tour of Qatar overall from compatriot Taylor Phinney.