Tour de France: Manx Missile fails to fire as Greipel grabs sprint glory

Published on Tuesday 12 July 2011 18:07

MARK Cavendish was magnanimous in defeat as arch-rival Andre Greipel secured his first Tour de France stage win.

Cavendish, who won stages five and seven last week to take his career tally to 17, was in a strong position in the finale of yesterday's tenth stage from Aurillac to Carmaux, but Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won the race to the line, with Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) third.

The duo were team-mates and outspoken rivals until this season, with Greipel leaving HTC-Highroad to claim his chance in the Tour. It was the first time Greipel has won a head-to-head sprint between the pair.

Cavendish said: "I'm disappointed. I feel I made a mistake but Greipel beat me so there's nothing I can say about that. I'm happy for him."

The 26-year-old from the Isle of Man had to do much of the work himself and was without the support of key leadout men Bernhard Eisel, Matt Goss and Mark Renshaw, who were dropped towards the end of the 158-kilometre stage.

He added: "It was a flat finish so I tried to go at 250m. It wasn't too early on this type of finish. I didn't hesitate but I didn't commit early enough. I kind of rolled round (Liquigas' Daniel] Oss on the last corner and kicked with 170m to go and Greipel just came past and beat me."

Cavendish is likely to have a further opportunity for his 18th Tour victory - and to reclaim the bragging rights from Greipel - in today's 167.5km 11th stage from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur.

For four years, until Greipel signed with Omega Pharma-Lotto for the 2011 season, Cavendish and the German were team-mates. However, the 2008 Giro d'Italia - Cavendish's first Grand Tour - was the last time the duo rode in the same race after a series of squabbles on and off the bike. The German, who will be 29 on Saturday and is riding in his first Tour, said: "Of course he wasn't always friendly but this is not my style - I just try to show on the bike what I am able to do.

"Today it was lucky that I had some power left. I was waiting for this moment to win a stage in the biggest race in the world. He has won 17 stages and now I have won one."

Despite the loss in the finishing straight, Cavendish's hopes of taking the points classification's green jersey improved yesterday. After the six-man breakaway swept the first points available at the intermediate sprint, Cavendish claimed nine points after leading the peloton over the line.His second place was accompanied by 35 points - Greipel claimed 45 for the win - allowing Cavendish to trim his deficit to maillot vert incumbent Philippe Gilbert to 29 points.

Gilbert leads on 226 points, with Rojas second on 209 and Cavendish third on 197.

Stage one winner Gilbert appeared to launch a late bid for victory yesterday on the day's final climb but Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), wearing the race leader's yellow jersey, went with the Belgian, along with three other riders. Voeckler led the group over the summit, 15km from the finish, but the peloton were within striking distance and pulled the attack back before Greipel triumphed.

Voeckler retained the maillot jaune and a lead of one minute 49 seconds from Luis-Leon Sanchez (Rabobank).

Bar a minor crash after 11km, it was a day relatively free of incident for a Tour which saw 20 riders withdraw prior to the tenth stage of racing. While most were as a result of injury, Katusha's Alexandr Kolobnev quit the race after his positive test for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide.

Team Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) were remarkably able to ride - bandaged and nursing cuts and bruises - two days after being knocked down by a media car on stage nine.