2012 Classics. In the Tour de Romandie, he showed his ability in short time trials by finishing third in the prologue but did not take any stage wins. A week later, Cavendish took his season victories to five by winning the sprint on stage two of the Giro d'Italia. The following day, he was again in contention for victory on stage three, but in the sprint, 's Roberto Ferrari aggressively switched lanes, clipping Cavendish and sending him to the ground, causing other riders to fall including overall leader Taylor Phinney (). Cavendish later tweeted that Ferrari should be "ashamed to take out Pink, Red & World Champ jerseys". He recovered from minor injuries to win stages five and thirteen. Cavendish completed the Giro, but lost the points classification to 's Joaquim Rodríguez by a single point. He did win the minor Azzurri d'Italia and stage combativeness classifications. Cavendish competed in the Ster ZLM Toer GP Jan van Heeswijk, in mid-June. Despite failing to win any of the four, mostly flat, stages, Cavendish's consistency ensured that he won the overall general classification—the first of his professional career—by eight seconds. In July, Cavendish won stage two of the Tour de France, his twenty-first tour stage win. Cavendish was in contention for another stage victory on stage four, but was taken out in a large crash in the final . He then took on a supporting role as Team Sky attempted to win the overall race overall with Wiggins. He was seen carrying bottles for team-mates and even setting the pace on a Pyrenean climb. The team repaid Cavendish for his hard work by helping chase down a breakaway on stage eighteen, although Cavendish alone had to chase down rider Luis León Sánchez and Nicolas Roche of in the last to take his 22nd Tour stage win, equalling André Darrigade. Cavendish won the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysée for a record fourth successive year—the most successful sprinter in Tour history with twenty-three stage wins. He also became the first person to win on the Champs-Élysées in the rainbow jersey. During the Tour, French newspaper L'Équipe named Cavendish the Tour de France's best sprinter of all time. Cavendish's main target for the season was the road race at the Olympics, which was held six days after the final stage of the Tour de France. A strong British squad of