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Cavendish wins stage 11

The uphill finish was not supposed to suit Cavendish, but the Manx Missile didn't seem to mind.

By VeloNews.com
Published: Jul. 15, 2009
2009 TdF, stage 11: Cavendish held off a brilliant effort by Farrar.
2009 TdF, stage 11: Cavendish held off a brilliant effort by Farrar.
Photo: Agence France Presse

They said stage 11’s uphill finish would certainly shed Mark Cavendish, opening the door for someone else to win.

They were wrong.

With his trusty leadout Columbia-HTC train of George Hincapie and then Mark Renshaw setting him up at the front of the peloton, Cavendish jumped on the uphill sprint finish of stage 11 to take the win ahead of Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) and Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam).

The bunch finish came at the end of Wednesday’s flat 192km stage from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau, following an all-day two-man breakaway that was caught with 5km to go.

Good day, sunshine

2009 TdF, stage 11: In and out of a Central France chateau.
2009 TdF, stage 11: In and out of a Central France chateau.
Photo: Graham Watson

Stage 11 was an easygoing affair for most of the peloton, with the temperature hovering around 73 degrees and an early break allowing the bunch to ride tempo all day. Ag2r’s Rinaldo Nocentini enjoyed another day in the yellow jersey.

There was an early shake-up on GC, but it had nothing to do with the day’s racing. Instead, the Tour de France officials simply negated the 15-second gap from the prior day’s stage to a number of riders — most notably Astana’s Levi Leipheimer and Garmin’s Bradley Wiggins — that was created after the field split at the end right near the finish. As a result, Leipheimer dropped from fourth on GC to fifth and Wiggins dropped from fifth to seventh. However, the Tour jury decided to void the 15-second gap from the first 52 riders to the rest of the peloton, thus reinstating the original general classification as it stood before stage 10 began.

At stage 11 rolled out, a number of early break attempts came to nothing. A spectator-caused crash at 15km took down Garmin’s Christian Vande Velde and Quick Step's Sébastien Rosseler. In an unusual move, race officials neutralized the peloton until the crashed riders regained the bunch.

2009 Tour de France

Stage 11: Vatan to Saint-Fargeau
Stage winner: Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) in 4:17:55
Stage winner's average speed:
GC leader: Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r)
Points leader: Cavendish
Climbing leader: Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Team GC leader: Ag2r
Best young rider: Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC)
Stage wins/GC leaders
Stage 1 (ITT): Fabian Cancellara/Cancellara
Stage 2: Cavendish/Cancellara
Stage 3: Cavendish/Cancellara
Stage 4 (TTT): Astana/Cancellara
Stage 5: Thomas Voeckler/Cancellara
Stage 6: Thor Hushovd/Cancellara
Stage 7: Brice Feillu/Rinaldo Nocentini
Stage 8: Luis Leon Sanchez/Nocentini
Stage 9: Pierrik Fedrigo/Nocentini
Stage 10: Cavendish/Nocentini
Up Next:
Thursday's stage 12 is 211.5km from Tonnerre to Vittel. Another flat stage, this could give the other sprinters a chance to again try their luck and legs against Cavendish.

The day’s main breakaway went after Johan Vansummeren (Silence-Lotto) and Marcin Sapa (Lampre) went clear of the peloton before the first intermediate sprint at 26.5km. With most of the intermediate points accounted, the green jersey contenders didn’t bother to contest for third. At the beginning of the day, Hushovd held a narrow lead over Cavendish, with 147 points to 141 points.

The breakaway pair stayed clear for most of the day, building up a maximum lead of four and a half minutes.

With the men out front, Ag2r and Columbia drove the peloton in defense of the yellow jersey and in anticipation of the stage win, respectively. With race radios back in play, and a peloton full of seasoned professionals well-versed in making the late catch, the two breakaway riders were scooped up at 5km to go.

As the catch was made, the peloton quickly fanned out across the road, but Columbia quickly stretched it back out, driving the field. With 2km to go, Milram crowded its way up alongside Columbia’s train.

At 1km to go, Milram took the front — temporarily. Then Hincapie took his familiar position at the front, drilling the pace and the peloton flew around the tight barricaded corners. With about 500m to go, Renshaw took over, with Cavendish, Husvhod and Farrar in singlefile behind.

When Cavendish jumped, Hushvod tried to surge, but was overtaken by a flying Farrar who passed the Norwegian and pulled almost alongside Cavendish. But sprint finishes are not horsehoes or hand grenades, and almost doesn’t get you a win. Instead, it was the Mark Cavendish show, once again.

Heading into Thursday’s stage, the general classification at the top of the leaderboard remains unchanged.

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