Stage 11 of this year’s Tour, a 168km wet ride from Blayes-les-Mines to Lavaur, was pretty much ho hum and went to the usual script. Peleton lets break go, peleton catches break, races ends in sprint finish. Cavendish wins. Textbook Le Tour. Mark Cavendish got some payback for yesterday’s defeat when he easily held of Stage 10 winner Andre Greipel for the win. Stage 2 winner Tyler Farrar completed the podium in third.
In taking the win Cavendish grabbed his first lead in this years points competition, and will wear the Green Jersey into first major mountains stage tonight. Cavendish now has a 16 point lead over former jersey wearer Jose Joaquin Rojas, who could only manage 7th on the stage. Philippe Gilbert was unsighted at the finish and slipped from first to third in this competition. Now that Cavendish has the jersey, you would back him to hold it all the way to Paris (although he has been in this position before and lost it). The new points system seems to suit him, as aswell as getting a bigger points advantage for winning stages, he can also pick up a few points over his rivals in intermediate sprints. That trend continued today, with Cavendish easily leading the main group over the line at the intermediate sprint point ahead of Rojas.
In terms of the other competitions there was no change in the standings. Thomas Voeckler again held the Yellow Jersey with ease, and it will be very interesting to see if he can hold onto it tomorrow as the race sees its first summit finish at Luz Ardiden. The same can be said for everyones new favourite rider Johnny Hoogerland. The Dutchman has put on a brave face since being thrown into a barbed-wire fence in the ‘cargate’ incident, but with so many mountain points on offer tonight you would think it would take an herculean effort for him to hold the jersey. Robert Gesink still leads in the youth classification.
But after all the shadow-boxing the real stuff starts tonight. 200+km, a cat-1 to warm up, and then the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden to finish. There will be nowhere to hide. With Contador needing to make up time whenever he can he will have to make his move at some stage. Anyone wanting to stand on the top podium in Paris this year will have to go with him. Can’t wait!
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Polka Dot Jersey – Johnny Hoogerland
Green Jesrey – Mark Cavendish
White Jesrey – Robert Gesink
No comments:
Post a Comment