Tour de France: Stage win for Mark Cavendish as he aims to keep green jersey

Published on Wednesday 13 July 2011 18:15

An incredible 18th Tour de France stage win in four years saw Great Britain's Mark Cavendish claim the points classification leader's green jersey in Lavaur yesterday.

Winning in cycling's biggest race has become routine for the 26-year-old from the Isle of Man, who finished a surprise second on Tuesday but today moved to seventh on the all-time list of Tour stage winners.

The HTC-Highroad sprinter has accumulated four wins in 2008, six in 2009 - the last time he donned the maillot vert - five in 2010 and now three in 2011, with ten stages still to race.

And he revealed the victory came despite having to adjust his shoe in the final 600 metres of the 167.5-kilometre 11th stage from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur.

Cavendish's foot had accidentally brushed against the front wheel of Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) - a man the Briton described earlier in the Tour as "kamikaze" - undoing the Manxman's buckle. Cavendish said: "There were ten of us close together and my shoe banged into his front wheel. My foot technically came out of the shoe, I had to reach down and slide the ratchet (buckle) and re-do it with 600m to go.

"I was lucky there were no swerves in the peloton and I had Mark Renshaw to fight for position - it could have been quite dangerous. But there was nothing intentional, nothing dangerous between Feillu and me today. It just so happened it was him - it could have been anyone else in the situation."

In torrential rain, the 45 points for the win and nine from the day's intermediate sprint in Gaillac - leading the peloton over the line after the six-man breakaway - saw Cavendish take a 16-point lead in the race for the maillot vert, after seizing control of the competition from Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto).

Cavendish now has 251 points, with Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) second on 235 and Gilbert third on 231 in what appears to be a three-horse race.

He added: "It's incredible to have the green jersey, it's the most beautiful jersey in the world."

The Tour heads for the Pyrenees today, so Cavendish's next chance will come en route to the Alps on Sunday.He is unsure of his chances of winning the green jersey for the first time, believing there are just two sprint opportunities before the Tour concludes in Paris on July 24.

He said: "There are two more bunch sprints in this year's race, one in Montpellier and the other in Paris, and I want to try to win both of them.

"It's not easy fighting for the green jersey but I'm going to keep going and try to keep hold of it right through to the end."

For the second time on the 2011 Tour, it appeared Cavendish received assistance from compatriot Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) in the finishing straight.

Thomas reprised his performance on stage five by leading the group in the closing stages, before Cavendish's HTC-Highroad colleague Renshaw took over and the Manxman finished off the sprint, with stage ten winner Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) second and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) third. Thomas and Cavendish could be team-mates in 2012, with Cavendish having reportedly already agreed a move to Team Sky. He last night paid tribute to his current team-mates, saying: "I have guys who ride into the ground for me and it's distressing for me when they do that and I can't finish off the job. We were talking about it last night at dinner and I said 'I'll win tomorrow'. I had to win after the work those other eight guys did today."

Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) retained the yellow jersey as overall leader, but expects to be deposed on tomorrow's stage from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden. He said: "That doesn't mean I won't fight."