WHEN Scott Sunderland retired from road racing in 2004 it ended his stint as Australia’s longest serving professional cyclist, so when he offers an opinion on those in his chosen sport it is an educated one.

On Saturday morning (AEST) as Bathurst talent Mark Renshaw played a crucial role in setting up his HTC-Columbia team-mate Mark Cavendish for victory in stage six of this year’s Tour de France, Sunderland was watching.

Sunderland, himself a former Tour de France rider, liked what he saw from Renshaw.

While it was Cavendish who ultimately claimed the honours and notched up his 12th stage win overall and second in succession in the world’s toughest cycling tour, Sunderland highlighted the role Renshaw played.

“The key to both of Cav’s successes was without a doubt Mark Renshaw,” Sunderland revealed on cyclingnews.com

“So much so, that I’m not sure that Cav would have won either sprint if he had not had Renshaw there to lead him out like he did.

“Renshaw is absolutely clinical in the chaos and knows exactly what to do at the exactly the right time. He is probably as good as Giovanni Lombardi was when he used to lead out Mario Cipollini to victory so many times.

“Cav is the best sprinter in the peloton and Renshaw is the best lead out man in the peloton. It is a perfect combination. They are very different characters but fit together perfectly.”

Of the 12 Tour de France stage wins Cavendish now boasts, Renshaw was the man who led out the ‘Manx missile’ in seven of them.