Cavendish in good company:

With his fourth sprint victory in this year’s Tour de France, Mark Cavendish moved into some pretty heady company.

After out-kicking three-time green jersey winner Robbie McEwen on the road into Nimes in Friday’s 13th stage, the 23-year-old Cavendish becomes just the eighth rider in Tour history to win four bunch sprint stages in a single Tour.

Only two riders — Andre Darrigade and Freddy Maertens — have won five bunch sprints in one Tour.

“Cav” is taking it all in stride. He’s absolutely dominating the sprints, winning four of five sprints so far in this year’s Tour, winning all four stages he’s contested. In the bunch sprint he didn’t win (stage 2 to St. Brieuc), he was working to lead-out teammates Gerard Ciolek and Kim Kirchen, who went 2-3 in the stage.

His dominance is certainly rifling some feathers among the peloton’s other sprinters, but Cavendish says he’s not slowing down.

“At the end of the day, I’m here to do a job. It’s unfortunate for the other guys that I have to do this,” Cavendish said. “I might win the stage, but I’m still not in the green jersey. I might win, but the other guys are more consistent than I am. That’s how it is.”

With more than a week of racing left to go, Cavendish could equal the Tour record, but chasing history could prove troublesome.

Of the remaining stages, the only sprint that Cavendish can count on is the final stage on the Champs-Élysées. And even then, breakaways can fend off the bunch. Most recently, Alexander Vinokourov bolted out of the pack to win clear in 2005.

Of the other remaining non-mountain stages, hilly courses and aggressive opportunists on the hunt for stage victories could fend off the main pack.

Saturday’s 14th stage into Digne-les-Bains features a fourth-category climb 9.5km from the finish that could spring an attack or provide a sufficient hurdle to drop Cavendish, who admitted he’s tiring.

After three hard stages in the Alps, rollercoaster course into Saint-Etienne on stage 18 and into Montlucon into stage 19 come at the end of the Tour and the sprinters — at least the ones who are left — will be saving their legs for Paris.

Most bunch sprint stage wins in a single Tour:
5 – Darrigade (1958), Maertens (1976, 1981)
4 – Cavendish (2008), Cipollini (1999), Graczyk (1960), Hassenforder (1956), Petacchi (2003), Sels (1964), Van Looy (1963), Van Poppel (1988)

Evans comfortable in yellow:

Cadel Evans says he’s getting used to the yellow jersey. The Silence-Lotto captain safely negotiated Friday’s hot and windy stage to enjoy his third full day in the maillot jaune.

“You get used to it. When you get a stage like today, when we ride relatively easy, it is much more easy to enjoy,” Evans said. “It was hot and a bit dangerous today in the final kilometers when we came in for the sprint. Overall, it was an optimum day for the team.”

Evans might be able to enjoy one more relatively easy day in Saturday’s run into Dignes-les-Bains, but after that, he knows that the attacks will come.

The Aussie knows all he has to do is follow the attacks in three decisive stages across the Alps, starting with Sunday’s summit arrival at the Cat. 2 Prato Nevoso in Italy.

“Knowing CSC, the attacks will probably be very strategically placed everywhere. We’re all getting tired at this part of the Tour. The sheer fatigue accumulates, everyone takes a different pace,” he said, before checking off his rivals. “Menchov, he’s the most regular. Sastre, he’s best over three weeks. Schleck, we’re on the same time.”

Evans is just the fifth Aussie rider in Tour history to wear the yellow jersey. The upcoming battle in the Alps will go a long way toward revealing if he’ll be the first to win it.

Why doper’s dope:

The way Bob Stapleton sees it, dopers dope because old habits die hard. The Team Columbia general manager believes a doper rationalizes on three levels.

“First, they’re too greedy. A good Tour performance can make their career,” he said. “Then they think they are too clever. But the tests are getting better. When you test a lot, the risk of getting caught goes up.”

Finally, Stapleton believes that some riders simply cannot race without doping.

“Some people just cannot help themselves. It’s addictive behavior,” he said. “Anyone who does this type of conduct is behaving irrationally. My view personally is that this is almost an addictive behavior. That’s how I view people who continue with this behavior in this type of environment.”

A more urgent question, however, is how to stop dopers.

Stapleton has done his part by introducing groundbreaking, independent testing within the Team Columbia squad and creating an environment on the team that promotes and enhances clean racing.

Surprisingly, Stapleton disagreed with the notion that independent, internal-testing programs en vogue at such teams as CSC, Garmin-Chipotle, Astana and Columbia are the long-term answer on how to rid the sport of cheats.

“We need a biological passport and a profile that captures these cases before it’s an implosion on the biggest stage in cycling. That’s the only way that’s been proven to end the problem,” he said.

“Increased testing is just a band-aid solution. That’s a good step forward, but it’s not enough. Everyone has to be on the same anti-doping program, with a biological passport that works the same for all riders. Then we can begin to create a level playing field.”