Tour de France - Four-star Cavendish does it again

Eurosport - Thu, 16 Jul 16:51:00 2009

Mark Cavendish recorded his fourth stage win at this year's Tour de France as he outsprinted the rest of the bunch in the 11th stage at St Fargeau.

2009 Tour de France Mark Cavendish wins stage 11 - 0

The Columbia HTC rider beat Garmin's Tyler Farrar of the United States to the line at the end of the 192km ride from Vatan.

The win also saw Cavendish reclaim the points classification green jersey from Norway's Thor Hushovd who was fifth behind Yauheni Hutarovich and Oscar Freire.

"It was okay, not too uphill," said Cavendish.

"We started the sprint 150 metres from the line instead of 250/300 metres as we usually do. I left it really late today and it was closer than any other sprints have been but we adapted as a team to the situation and it worked out well.

"We know we're the dominant team in the sprints so if we can carry on doing what we are, we've got to be content with that. I've certainly got an advantage over my rivals psychologically."

The Manxman equalled Barry Hoban's British record of eight stage victories on the Tour which dates back to 1975 in the process. While it took eight years for Hoban to snatch his Tour stage wins, the last at the ripe old age of 35, Cavendish is just 24.

An almost completely flat stage, bar two fourth category climbs, saw Johan Van Summeren and Marcin Sapa escape after 24km and build up a maximum advantage of four and a half minutes over the peloton.

But the long break by the Belgian from Silence Lotto and Polish Tour debutant Sapa of Lampre ended with five kilometres to go, leading to the inevitable bunch sprint.

Rinaldo Nocentini retains the yellow jersey with the Italian from AG2R leading Spain's Alberto Contador by six seconds and American Lance Armstrong by eight.

Their Astana team-mate Levi Leipheimer and Britain's Bradley Wiggins are in fourth and fifth respectively after the race jury ruled that the 15 seconds they lost on stage 10 should be annulled and they were awarded the same time as the lead peloton.

STAGE 12 LIVE at 1pm on Thursday on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

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  1. Are you a complete imbeciel veloboy22 or just trying to­ be one? The greatest cycling nation of the last decade­ is devoid of sporting talent....ahahahaha :0) you are­ obviously no cyclist so shouldn't be on here.

    From Alex, on Thu 16 Jul 1:15PM

  2. Bring back Allan Davis

    From Liz S, on Thu 16 Jul 11:11AM
  3. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    personally i have not said cav isnt the quickest, i­ just been saying he arrogant and totally unlikeable.­ but most people on here cant handle that, britian is so­ devoid of sporting talent that now a @#$% is a sporting­ hero! cav is as arogant as christiano ronaldo!

    From veloboy22, on Thu 16 Jul 9:56AM

  4. i hope cav doesnt win again today, or armstrong for­ that matter, or we'll have all these negative­ muppets back. Then again, if he doesnt win they'll­ all be back to gloat or tell us they were right all­ along. You can't win with some people, even if they­ know they are wrong they keep squawking.

    From lionbeatspanther, on Thu 16 Jul 9:44AM

  5. oh dear, thanks for repeating the quote that says so­ many are better than cavendish, but veloboy looks kinda­ stupid now for what he said in reply, hmm what do i­ mean NOW, he did a good job of it everyday hahahahaha.

    From , on Thu 16 Jul 9:41AM

  6. maybe veloboy didnt see the quote as the comment was­ hidden due to low rating because the comment was­ stupid, very much like a lot of veloboys comments.­ maybe he'll get the hang of reading everything­ before he's quick to criticise, but i think he­ likes to criticise anything that moves.

    From , on Thu 16 Jul 9:35AM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    heres the quote from ryan d, "Tom Boonen­ admitted­ himself when he was the best sprinter that­ Quickstep­ had to do it all, Tom is a professional and­ knows this­ so the sooner Cavendish does the better.­­ Hushovd,Pozzatto,Friere,Bennati and Tom Boonen are all­­ better sprinters overall than Cavendish and it,s as­­ simple as that, Yes Cavendish may be faster now but­ for­ the complete cyclist you have to look elsewhere­ !!!"

    got it now veloboy? do your homework­ properly little boy next time before you get clever.­ now do it again!!

    From lionbeatspanther, on Thu 16 Jul 9:31AM

  8. At least Allan Davis was regularly finishing top 3 in­ the sprints in the Tours leading up to TDF. Boonen­ hasnt even got into the Top 10.

    From Liz S, on Thu 16 Jul 8:35AM

  9. I'm still trying to work out why Quick Step went­ through two courts to try and get Boonen permission to­ race, what exactly was the point, he would have been­ better off staying at home, he's just embarrased­ himself so far, not contended any of the sprints and­ spent a fair bit of time on his backside.

    From wheredyougetthose, on Thu 16 Jul 8:31AM

  10. Cavendish is a great rider arrogance is admired by us­ in foreighners why not the same for brits glad jury­ came to their senses over timings.

    From iancampbell11, on Thu 16 Jul 5:38AM

  11. well said no.53 greatspur, funny reading all the­ comments and Cav bashers here..sad people.
    here's­ my input for the light-hearted : tyler tried and thor­ just gave up, boonen and frere were just looking round­ wondering why they bother..maybe a few can follow and­ possibly reach to his seat-tube but nobody can get­ round the Manx Missile...Go Cav he's showing true­ sprinter's attitude, a la Robbie McEwen look how­ brilliant he was and still is and his feisty punchy­ attitude that everyone loves..and Vive le Tour..

    From Marty B, on Thu 16 Jul 3:50AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    You are not alone, find your soul mate on -- SeekTall­ Co m -- where many sexy tall singles who like dating­ and chatting there. I'm an open minded girl from­ UK, I also like dating with tall guys on it.

    From feburegas07, on Thu 16 Jul 3:00AM

  13. This is so interesting....yawn

    From joestone99uk, on Thu 16 Jul 1:41AM

  14. who said pozzato or bennati better than cav? now your­ ranting about comments that havent been made, way to go­ with the reasoned argument!

    From veloboy22, on Thu 16 Jul 12:44AM

  15. wow

    From , on Thu 16 Jul 12:40AM

  16. wow

    From , on Thu 16 Jul 12:38AM

  17. the usual people not making any sense just to try to­ knock Cavendish. Who said cav was the complete cyclist?­ stupid comment from sheet for brains person. hes the­ fastest sprinter, thats all people are saying. the most­ complete cyclist will win the yellow, nobody expects it­ to be Cav. And what makes the other sprinters mentioned­ better than Cav?? How much have pozzatto or bennati­ done to be rated better than a guy thats cleaning up­ most sprints in the biggest race. lack of reasoning­ there, just making a claim with nothing to back it up­ is totally useless. Just dont bother posting guys, ok­ we got it, you don't like the bloke, so just­ don't bother commenting on the article, there are­ lots of other articles you can go and write negative­ things about, or god forbid, say something useful

    From lionbeatspanther, on Wed 15 Jul 10:39PM

  18. tradcliffe, sorry no, that's not me!

    From Liz S, on Wed 15 Jul 10:19PM

  19. veloboy22, Apparently Hushovd was asked by the Cevelo­ team if he wanted them to bring him to the finish for­ his sprint and he said, "No I will just ride off­ the back of Cavendish." I think I've been­ saying that for 2 days now!

    From Liz S, on Wed 15 Jul 10:18PM

  20. Liz,s are you the lizzie on you tube that posts cycling­ finishes??

    From tradcliffe284, on Wed 15 Jul 9:42PM
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