Cycling: Mark Cavendish rests up for his green jersey battle to come

Published on Sunday 17 July 2011 19:33

Mark CAVENDISH was today taking a rest at the Tour de France, with his mind focused on keeping the points classification leader's green jersey for the remaining six days of racing.

The 26-year-old from the Isle of Man yesterday won the 193-kilometre 15th stage from Limoux to Montpellier.

It was his fourth win of the 2011 Tour - following successes in Cap Frehel, Chateauroux and Lavaur - taking his overall tally to 19 in four years.

After today's rest day, tomorrow the Tour resumes with the 162.5km 16th stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Gap.

As Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) prepares to return to action, he will know his 37-point cushion by no means guarantees he will return home with the green jersey, a prize which has proved elusive in the last two years despite six wins in 2009 and five in 2010. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) is second on 282 and Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) third on 248, with both likely to accrue more points than Cavendish in the Alps.

The Briton said: "The battle's not over until we cross the line on the Champs-Elysees so we'll keep plugging away. I know Gilbert is quite far back but he desperately wants this jersey. Rojas can climb a lot better than me - there's some intermediate sprints that he can get points in that I can't."

Cavendish yesterday finished ahead of Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) in second and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) in third, with Team Sky Tour debutant Ben Swift sixth.

The 23-year-old from Rotherham said: "It was pretty manic. I gave it my best shot and got sixth, but you need a lot of luck and a lot of speed to beat Cav."

The overall rankings were unchanged, with Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) retaining the race leader's yellow jersey.