Cav crushed at Milan-San Remo

Not a good day for Cav, who had
hoped for a second win today
(image credit: Mogens Engelund CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sky's Mark Cavendish was a favourite for 2012's opening Monument - it is, after all, the Sprinter's Classic and he's the fastest sprinter in the world - but it all proved too much for him today. Whether he's not on the form we thought he was or whether it was simply an off day is not yet clear, but the 27-year-old Manxman began showing signs that all was not well with around 94km to go, visibly experiencing pain as he climbed Le Manie and apparently ordering the team to go on without him.

He dropped into the grupetto two minutes behind the peloton before Bernhard Eisel gave his all in dragging him back towards the peloton (with what looked suspiciously like a bit of slipstream help from team cars), but it wasn't enough and the current World Champion was fortunate just to finish the race. Both men, along with team mate Ian Stannard, were among the 51 riders to fail to finish the race.

Cancellara misses birthday bulls-eye
As the race entered its final quarter it became obvious that Poggio di San Remo, the final hill, was going to be a war zone with numerous riders realising they'd seen the chances of winning massively increase with Cav's demise. Vacansoleil's ever-popular Johnny Hoogerland won himself even more fans with some brave attacks, but it was Valerio Agnoli of Liquigas who really took charge. An enormously talented climber who looks destined for great things in the coming years, he put in a stellar effort out in front of the peloton forcing them to hurry up. At one point, he was going so fast he managed to almost crash after overcooking it on a bend - while going up hill.

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

Things became very different on the other side of the summit and Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack-Nissan, also a favourite, looked dead set for the win as he plummeted like a stone. The Swiss rider, who will turn 31 on Sunday, is well-known for his abilities in a descent and once he and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) had taken the lead from Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) the race looked like a done deal.

However, through a superhuman effort 31-year-old Australian Gerrans clawed back his lead in the final metres and just pipped Cancellara to the line in the sprint; scoring a second consecutive win for Australia, 98 years after Australians first contested this race and seeming surprised afterwards at his own achievement - "Without question Fabian was the strongest, I can’t deny him that. He was going like a motorbike," he told the press. Cancellara, who spent much of the race looking like he was enjoying a gentle jaunt around the park, admitted the last section had been hard on him, too: "I had lactic acid coming out of my ears," he said.

Fabian Cancellara: "I had lactic acid coming out
of my ears"
(image credit: Fliedermaus CC BY-SA 1.0)

The race saw three nasty crashes. Columbia-Coldeportes' Carlos Juan Quintero went down hard, causing widespread concern when it became apparent he wasn't moving and was seen being strapped to a backboard and stretchered off. Fortunately, it confirmed a short while later than he had regained consciousness and was able to recognise people around him, the backboard being used as a precaution. At first believed to have suffered a fractured skull and jaw, but it was confirmed later that he'd got off relatively lightly with a broken collarbone. FDJ's Dominique Rollin and Katusha's Vladimir Gusev crashed with 22.3km to go on Cipressa, taking favourite Philippe Gilbert with them and ending his chances. Finally, a rider initially believed to be Tom Boonen crashed on the last corner, seeming to hit the barriers. It turned out to actually be his Omega Pharma-Quickstep team mate Matteo Trentin - the team's website provided an update after the race...

Trentin has scrapes on his body, including his right elbow and gluteal region following the crash in the final corner. While the injuries do not appear to be serious, the team will closely monitor Trentin’s condition in the coming days.

Edvald Boasson Hagen was the best-placed Team Sky rider with 25th place, followed by Thomas Löfkvist in 30th. Garmin-Barracuda's David Millar was the best Brit in 112th place, it's notable that #MSR - the official Twitter tag for the race - was the top trend for the UK, yet at the time of writing there is no mention of the race on the BBC Sports website. Sky covered it, but tucked away on the cycling page rather than on the main sports news page.

What now for Cav?
Cav's crushing defeat has, perhaps inevitably, brought his not-inconsiderable-in-numbers detractors out of the woodwork. Is he in fact the rider he has been portrayed to be? Will he be a factor in this year's Tour de France? Will Team Sky face problems as they split into two parts at the Tour, one dedicated to driving Bradley Wiggins to the General Classification and one driving Cav to stage wins? The answers are simple.

Cav may lost won Milan-San Remo, but that's the way it is with one-day races. We all have off-days - even Eddy Merckx lost races occasionally. He is joint 11th (with Costante Girardengo) on the list of riders with the most Grand Tour stages wins, is current World Champion, won Milan-San Remo in 2009, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne this year and numerous other races. He is, without any doubt whatsoever, one of the most superbly talented professional cyclists Britain has ever produced; to mutter that he is anything else is ridiculous. Secondly, Cav is set to be a factor in the Tour for some time yet - when he has the legs, which he usually does, and he's in the right position to launch himself into a sprint, he's virtually unbeatable. Thirdly, at Paris-Nice this year Team Sky frequently looked more like an expertly-drilled combat unit than a cycling team (well, apart from the skin-tight lycra and, uh, bikes, that is). Time and time again they proved that they are capable of tasking half the squad with protecting Wiggins, keeping him safe and travelling at a sufficiently high speed to score the lowest overall time while at the same time sending out commandos to harry the peloton, attack rivals and take stage wins. They will, it seems, experience little difficulty in chasing the GC and stage victories.

Results

1 Simon GERRANS AUS GEC 6:59:24
2 Fabian CANCELLARA SUI RNT +0
3 Vincenzo NIBALI ITA LIQ +0
4 Peter SAGAN SVK LIQ +2
5 John DEGENKOLB GER PRO +2
6 Filippo POZZATO ITA FAR +2
7 Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ ESP KAT +2
8 Alessandro BALLAN ITA BMC +2
9 Daniel OSS ITA LIQ +2
10 Daniele BENNATI ITA RNT +2
11 Xavier FLORENCIO CABRE ESP KAT +2
12 Luca PAOLINI ITA KAT +12
13 Simon GESCHKE GER PRO +12
14 Oscar GATTO ITA FAR +12
15 Matthew Harley GOSS AUS GEC +20
16 Giovanni VISCONTI ITA MOV +20
17 Jacopo GUARNIERI ITA AST +20
18 Francisco José VENTOSO ALBERDI ESP MOV +20
19 Koen DE KORT NED PRO +20
20 Johnny HOOGERLAND NED VCD +20
21 Mark RENSHAW AUS RAB +20
22 Tom BOONEN BEL OPQ +20
23 Björn LEUKEMANS BEL VCD +20
24 Sacha MODOLO ITA COG +20
25 Edvald BOASSON HAGEN NOR SKY +20
26 Marco MARCATO ITA VCD +20
27 Anthony GESLIN FRA FDJ +20
28 Pablo LASTRAS GARCIA ESP MOV +20
29 Francesco GAVAZZI ITA AST +20
30 Thomas LÖVKVIST SWE SKY +20
31 Matti BRESCHEL DEN RAB +20
32 Lars BOOM NED RAB +20
33 George HINCAPIE USA BMC +20
34 Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN ESP EUS +20
35 Francesco REDA ITA ASA +20
36 Angel MADRAZO RUIZ ESP MOV +20
37 Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI ESP EUS +20
38 Angel VICIOSO ARCOS ESP KAT +20
39 Rinaldo NOCENTINI ITA ALM +20
40 Sebastian LANGEVELD NED GEC +20
41 Bram TANKINK NED RAB +20
42 Simone PONZI ITA AST +20
43 Damiano CUNEGO ITA LAM +20
44 Gianluca BRAMBILLA ITA COG +31
45 Niki TERPSTRA NED OPQ +1:05
46 Patxi Javier VILA ERRANDONEA ESP UNA +1:24
47 Dmitriy MURAVYEV KAZ AST +1:24
48 Jérôme PINEAU FRA OPQ +1:35
49 Francesco FAILLI ITA FAR +1:35
50 Kris BOECKMANS BEL VCD +1:35
51 Rui Alberto FARIA DA COSTA POR MOV +1:35
52 André GREIPEL GER LTB +1:48
53 Dominique ROLLIN CAN FDJ +1:48
54 Tony GALLOPIN FRA RNT +1:48
55 José HERRADA LOPEZ ESP MOV +1:48
56 Christophe RIBLON FRA ALM +1:48
57 Andrey AMADOR BAKKAZAKOVA CRC MOV +1:48
58 Danilo HONDO GER LAM +1:48
59 Davide CIMOLAI ITA LAM +1:48
60 Nicki SÖRENSEN DEN SAX +1:48
61 Paul MARTENS GER RAB +1:48
62 Maarten TJALLINGII NED RAB +1:48
63 Danilo DI LUCA ITA ASA +1:48
64 Gustav LARSSON SWE VCD +1:48
65 Karsten KROON NED SAX +1:48
66 Elia FAVILLI ITA FAR +1:48
67 Anders LUND DEN SAX +1:48
68 Heinrich HAUSSLER AUS GRM +1:48
69 Greg VAN AVERMAET BEL BMC +2:20
70 Matthieu LADAGNOUS FRA FDJ +2:41
71 Matteo MONTAGUTI ITA ALM +2:41
72 Matteo TOSATTO ITA SAX +2:41
73 Valerio AGNOLI ITA LIQ +2:44
74 Manuele BOARO ITA SAX +3:23
75 Kiel REIJNEN USA TT1 +3:27
76 Rémi CUSIN FRA TT1 +3:39
77 William BONNET FRA FDJ +4:09
78 Grégory RAST SUI RNT +4:44
79 Yaroslav POPOVYCH UKR RNT +4:44
80 Steve CHAINEL FRA FDJ +4:44
81 Johan VAN SUMMEREN BEL GRM +5:37
82 Borut BOZIC SLO AST +7:37
83 Nikolas MAES BEL OPQ +7:43
84 Stijn VANDENBERGH BEL OPQ +7:43
85 Jon IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI ESP EUS +7:43
86 Arthur VICHOT FRA FDJ +7:43
87 Philippe GILBERT BEL BMC +7:43
88 Kristijan KOREN SLO LIQ +9:28
89 Michael SCHÄR SUI BMC +9:28
90 Marcus BURGHARDT GER BMC +9:28
91 Frederik WILLEMS BEL LTB +9:28
92 Jelle VANENDERT BEL LTB +9:28
93 Kevin HULSMANS BEL FAR +9:28
94 Baden COOKE AUS GEC +9:28
95 Manuel QUINZIATO ITA BMC +9:28
96 Paolo BAILETTI ITA UNA +9:28
97 Juan Pablo SUAREZ SUAREZ COL COL +9:28
98 Michael MORKOV DEN SAX +9:28
99 Andreas KLIER GER GRM +9:28
100 Eduard VORGANOV RUS KAT +14:39
101 Frederico ROCCHETTI ITA UNA +15:54
102 Pier Paolo DE NEGRI ITA FAR +17:04
103 Vicente REYNES MIMO ESP LTB +20:18
104 Marcel SIEBERG GER LTB +20:18
105 Robert HUNTER RSA GRM +20:18
106 Pim LIGTHART NED VCD +20:18
107 Fabian WEGMANN GER GRM +20:18
108 Elia VIVIANI ITA LIQ +20:18
109 Tyler FARRAR USA GRM +20:18
110 Robert WAGNER GER RNT +20:18
111 Hayden ROULSTON NZL RNT +20:18
112 David MILLAR GBR GRM +20:18
113 Taylor PHINNEY USA BMC +20:18
114 Murilo Antonio FISCHER BRA GRM +20:18
115 Marzio BRUSEGHIN ITA MOV +20:18
116 Markel IRIZAR ARANBURU ESP RNT +20:18
117 Maxime BOUET FRA ALM +20:18
118 Adam HANSEN AUS LTB +20:18
119 Peter VELITS SVK OPQ +20:18
120 Dmitriy GRUZDEV KAZ AST +20:18
121 Jeffry Johan ROMERO CORREDOR COL COL +20:18
122 Oleg BERDOS MDA UNA +20:18
123 Juan Pablo FORERO CARRENO COL COL +20:18
124 Filippo BAGGIO ITA UNA +20:18
125 Bertjan LINDEMAN NED VCD +20:18
126 Frederik VEUCHELEN BEL VCD +20:18
127 Fabio Andres DUARTE AREVALO COL COL +20:18
128 Lloyd MONDORY FRA ALM +20:18
129 Arnaud GERARD FRA FDJ +20:18
130 Manuel BELLETTI ITA ALM +20:18
131 Alexander KRISTOFF NOR KAT +20:18
132 Pablo URTASUN PEREZ ESP EUS +20:18
133 Mikel LANDA MEANA ESP EUS +20:18
134 Ruben PEREZ MORENO ESP EUS +20:18
135 Jure KOCJAN SLO TT1 +20:18
136 Julien EL FARES FRA TT1 +20:18
137 Georg PREIDLER AUT TT1 +20:18
138 Tom VEELERS NED PRO +20:18
139 Johannes FRÖHLINGER GER PRO +20:18
140 Cheng JI CHN PRO +20:18
141 Lars Ytting BAK DEN LTB +20:18
142 Gerald CIOLEK GER OPQ +20:18
143 Diego CACCIA ITA FAR +20:18
144 Luca MAZZANTI ITA FAR +20:18
145 Sébastien HINAULT FRA ALM +23:02
146 Kristof GODDAERT BEL ALM +23:02
147 Marco COLEDAN ITA COG +23:02
148 Gianluca MAGGIORE ITA UNA +23:02
149 Daniele RIGHI ITA LAM +23:02
DNF Stuart O'GRADY AUS GEC  
DNF Tomas VAITKUS LTU GEC  
DNF Svein TUFT CAN GEC  
DNF Matthew WILSON AUS GEC  
DNF Claudio CORIONI ITA ASA  
DNF Carlos Alberto BETANCUR GOMEZ COL ASA  
DNF Paolo CIAVATTA ITA ASA  
DNF Francesco GINANNI ITA ASA  
DNF Danilo NAPOLITANO ITA ASA  
DNF Fabio TABORRE ITA ASA  
DNF Enrico GASPAROTTO ITA AST  
DNF Maxim IGLINSKY KAZ AST  
DNF Franck OSORIO COL COL  
DNF Luis Felipe LAVERDE JIMENEZ COL COL  
DNF Victor Hugo PENA GRISALES COL COL  
DNF Carlos Julian QUINTERO COL COL  
DNF Marco CANOLA ITA COG  
DNF Enrico BATTAGLIN ITA COG  
DNF Paolo LOCATELLI ITA COG  
DNF Angelo PAGANI ITA COG  
DNF Filippo SAVINI ITA COG  
DNF Juan Jose OROZ UGALDE ESP EUS  
DNF Amets TXURRUKA ESP EUS  
DNF Gabriel RASCH NOR FDJ  
DNF Vladimir GUSEV RUS KAT  
DNF Simon SPILAK SLO KAT  
DNF Alessandro PETACCHI ITA LAM  
DNF Grega BOLE SLO LAM  
DNF Diego ULISSI ITA LAM  
DNF Davide VIGANO ITA LAM  
DNF Maciej BODNAR POL LIQ  
DNF Paolo LONGO BORGHINI ITA LIQ  
DNF Greg HENDERSON NZL LTB  
DNF Matteo TRENTIN ITA OPQ  
DNF Roy CURVERS NED PRO  
DNF Roger KLUGE GER PRO  
DNF Thomas LEEZER NED RAB  
DNF Maarten WYNANTS BEL RAB  
DNF Mark CAVENDISH GBR SKY  
DNF Bernhard EISEL AUT SKY  
DNF Mathew HAYMAN AUS SKY  
DNF Jeremy HUNT GBR SKY  
DNF Salvatore PUCCIO ITA SKY  
DNF Ian STANNARD GBR SKY  
DNF Jonas Aaen JÖRGENSEN DEN SAX  
DNF David TANNER AUS SAX  
DNF Gabriele BOSISIO ITA UNA  
DNF Matteo FEDI ITA UNA  
DNF Daniele COLLI ITA TT1  
DNF Vegard Stake LAENGEN NOR TT1  
DNF Martijn VERSCHOOR NED TT1

Cycling in Britain - a niche sport?

So we notice that in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Mark Cavendish scored 49.47% of the total votes, beating runner-up Darren Clarke (a golfer) by 169,152 to 42,188 - in other words, by 126,964 votes.

Cycling's a niche sport in Britain, right? The combined total of the votes received by the nine runners-up came to 172,807 - just 3,655 (0.53%) more than Cav won alone.

Notably, there was not a single big-budget-never-off-the-telly footballer on the final list.

Something tells me the television channels are missing an opportunity here.

Cav to be a dad!

World Road Champion Mark Cavendish announced via Twitter on Saturday morning (22/10/11) that partner Peta Todd is pregnant.

Peta, who has become a spokesperson for cycling in her own right and has completed charity rides for Help for Heroes, has a son born in 2006 named Finnbar. Her second child will be Mark's first.

"I'm happy to announce, beyond doubt, my proudest moment of this year.... @petatodd is pregnant. I'm going to be a daddy." (@MarkCavendish) 

"Can now confirm that whether or not the world is ready for it... there is a baby @MarkCavendish on the way. A very happy family this end." (@petatodd)

Peta told The Sun newspaper that she's "four months gone, which means it was conceived in July, during the Tour de France. It's a Tour baby." We'll therefore be eagerly anticipating the baby's appearance on the start line of either the Tour de France or the Giro Donne in about 22 years' time.


Congratulations to Peta, Mark and family!

Cav to Sky!

After months of speculation comes confirmation

In spite of the rumour mill going into overdrive over the last couple of weeks and all sorts of worries that it wouldn't happen due to problems with sponsors and bike suppliers, it's finally official - World Champion Mark Cavendish has joined the British-based Team Sky.

Though his eventual destination seemed virtually a foregone conclusion following the announcement that HTC-Highroad boss Bob Stapleton had been forced to release Cav and his team-mates following difficulties in securing new sponsorship, rumours and theories that he might go elsewhere soon surfaced - in the last week, one of the more convincing ones centred around the merging Omega Pharma-Lotto and Quick-Step's new agreement with Specialized. However, a comment made by Bernhard Eisel (who will also ride with Sky next year) apparently revealed the truth.

Confirmation came late on Tuesday afternoon, with Sky boss Dave Brailsford publishing the following statement on Sky's website:

"Mark is the greatest sprinter of his generation and is well on his way to becoming the greatest of all time. He is a rider of exceptional talent who has proved his pedigree at the very highest level of our sport.
Mark is a born winner and what excites me most is the attitude he brings to all the teams he rides for. We want to inspire more fans to get into cycling and I can think of no one better to help us do that. We are delighted that the new world champion will be riding for Team Sky next season."

Mark himself then provided further confirmation by Tweeting the message seen at the top of this article.


What does this mean for the future of British cycling? First and foremost, we now have in Sky what is far and away the strongest British-based ProTeam that has ever put cleat to pedal. Alongside Cav, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas are among the most effective General Classification contenders in the world today, while the rest of the team - including the next generation superstars Edvald Boasson Hagen, Ben Swift and Alex Dowsett - are more than capable of racking up win after win and adding points to the grand total.

Will 2012 bring us the first ever Tour de France win by a British team and/or rider? It's looking more possible than ever before.

Cav to Sky confirmed?

Betting news website Bettor.com reports that Omega Pharma-Lotto manager Patrick Lefevere revealed an interesting nugget of information, reinforcing hopes that UCI World Road Champion will be riding with Team Sky in the next season despite contrary rumours.

"This season I have not yet exchanged three words with Cavendish," he told them. "I have negotiated with his friend and teammate Bernhard Eisel. He was quite clear to me and said: 'Sorry, but Mark needs to go to Sky for many reasons and I am going along. We have now been signed.' So, to my knowledge Cavendish is no longer free."

The website also says that in addition to Cav's preference for Specialized bikes over the Pinarellos that Sky are contracted to ride for a three year period there have been problems with sponsors: the Manx sprinter is personally sponsored by Nike, whereas Sky are sponsored by Adidas. As the two sports equipment firms directly compete with one another, he would almost certainly lose Nike's support upon joining Sky.

Tyler Farrar speaks to US News

We mentioned in the Stage 15 Debrief post earlier that Tyler Farrar had made a comment apparently questioning Mark Cavendish's performance in the final sprint of the stage. Is he trying to express suspicion, or did he just make a slightly poor choice of words? We're not convinced he meant anything by it, but you can make your own minds up - here it is:

0'25", Farrar: "Well, er, Cav made a really remarkable comeback after being dumped in the grupetto for about 70k yesterday..."
1'10", narrator: "...don't quite know what he was implying when he said Cav made a big comeback yesterday when he was dropped by the peloton..."

(Also, we'd like to state we don't believe Mark Cavendish cheated in any way whatsoever.)

Tour de France: Stage 15 Debrief

"50k to go THOR: How you feel? ME: Fucked. You? THOR: My eyes hurt from trying to keep them open. Maybe we'll feel ok when we see 25k to go?" (David Millar, @millarmind, Twitter)

Stage 15 may as well have been designed for Mark Cavendish - the flat, straight road to the end being perfect for HTC-Highroad's trademark lead-out train to aim him at the finish line, light the blue touchpaper and retire.

However, although Mark is the fastest sprinter in the world, he doesn't like mountains - and less than 24 hours ago he was grinding his way up the mighty Plateau de Beille in the last of the Pyrenees stage, which introduced a degree of uncertainty into what would otherwise have been a very simple equation: would be have recovered sufficiently to deliver the goods today?

Well, it seems HTC employ the finest masseurs the world can offer as well as the finest male and female cyclists, because when it came down to it he was ready, willing and more than able. Other teams attempted to derail the train, but she kept a-rollin' on even though a few carriages became unhitched along the way and Mark was perfectly positioned for the final assault. A posse of hopefuls chased him across the line and they were close, but once again nobody could do it quite like he can and he earned a glorious 19th stage win.

Since he now has 319 points, compared to second place Jose Joaquin Rojas' 282, it's also looing very much as though he'll be keeping the green jersey for the points competition too - and he makes it look good.

Meanwhile, Tyler Farrar made some comments during an interview with a US television station which some viewers believe suggest he has suspicions stemming from the speedy recovery that would be required to win the stage following yesterday's climbs. It can be seen here.

"Kudos to Mark and HTC, they make that look way easier than it actually is." (@millarmind, Twitter)

Benjamin du Tour, Anthony Delaplace.

The first flat stage after the mountains can often seem a bit of a let-down as the battles that invariably take place on the climbs give way to the peloton and mile after mile of trunk road. It looked for a while this morning as though we were in for another depressing and wet day, with all the crashes that entails, but shortly before Stage 15 began the sun came out and within a few kilometres it became apparent that this was going to be a lot more than a pedal-powered shuttle bus to the next spiky terrain. The attacks began the same moment the pack left the neutral zone and a five man breakaway consisting of Mikael Delage, Niki Terpstra, Samuel Dumoulin, Mikhail Ignatyev and "Benjamin du Tour" Anthony Delaplace soon went to work - a kilometre later, they'd built their advantage to over a minute, making it clear that they had no plans on coming back any time soon. By 8km, they'd more than doubled it.

One big surprise today was Daniel Oss, Liquigas' 24-year-old Classics specialist and guardian of Peter Sagan, who produced an impressive talent for sprinting from the bushel under which he's been hiding it. It seems that with many younger riders doing well outside of their usual roles and even gaining unexpected wins, we're on the cusp of a new generation of great roleurs, a whole era of neoMerckxs (sorry, couldn't resist that term). Marianne Vos is blazing the trail, the likes of Oss and Geraint Thomas are following.

Swift: coming soon to a
podium near you.

The rain may have stopped, but at this time of year the mistral makes its presence felt in the South of France and provided assistance and caused problems in more or less equal measure - while the route looks fairly straight on the large scale map displayed on the official Tour website, on the ground it zigzags this way on roads that wind around to visit the many ancient towns and avoid the rocky ridges that dot and cross the landscape here, meaning that one minute a handy tailwind was pushing the pack along at a good clip and the next blasting the best laid plans to pieces as the road changed direction and it became a crosswind. Echelons were expected, but perhaps due to tiredness after the rigours of the Pyrenees none formed despite HTC looking as though they were about to assume the positions at a few points.

It was also a superb day for Sky's Ben Swift who managed to power himself into 6th place, a brilliant result for the young British rider who looks one of the obvious successors in a few years when the great and the good of British cycling reach the end of their careers. A lot of people were predicting that Swifty would win a stage this year - that's improbable now, but all the evidence suggests next year will be different. Cavendish may be the first British rider to win the points competition this year, but he's unlikely to be the last.

On other sites: HTC-Highroad have some excellent photographs of the stage (as they always do). Specialized also have some good images, including a superb one of Cav crossing the line (check Daniel Oss' expression!)

Results of Stage 15:

1. CAVENDISH Mark 4h 20' 24"  
2. FARRAR Tyler 
3. PETACCHI Alessandro 
4. OSS Daniel 
5. ROJAS Jose Joaquin 
6. SWIFT Ben 
7. CIOLEK Gerald 
8. GALLOPIN Tony
9. VENTOSO Francisco 
10. HINAULT Sébastien  (all same time)


Overall General Classification after Stage 15:

1. VOECKLER Thomas 65h 24' 34"  
2. SCHLECK Frank + 01' 49"
3. EVANS Cadel + 02' 06"
4. SCHLECK Andy + 02' 15"
5. BASSO Ivan + 03' 16"
6. SANCHEZ Samuel + 03' 44"
7. CONTADOR Alberto + 04' 00"
8. CUNEGO Damiano + 04' 01"
9. DANIELSON Tom + 05' 46"
10. DE WEERT Kevin + 06' 18"


Points: Mark Cavendish; Climber: Jelle Vanendert; Youth: Rigoberto Uran; Team: LeopardTrek; Combativity: Niki Terpstra.

Tour de France: Stage 11 Debrief

Well, just like we said this morning who was ever going  to win this one other than Mark Cavendish? The dead straight, pancake flat run into the finish line looked more like a drag racing track - albeit a very, very wet one - than sprint section and Cav's running a blown big block hemi with nitrous.

Despite the horrendous weather, the type the French describe as raining ropes and the Brits as pissing it down, Stage 11 turned out to be quite a nice sort of stage from the fans' point of view - though it was probably not that much fun to be in the race, we imagine. There's plenty of fantastic scenery in this part of the world with chateaux to match (mostly gateaux chateaux rather than the proper defensive ones we prefer, but nevertheless) and some very fine-lookin' rivers too - and it's all quintessentially French: if Jean de Florette hadn't been set in Provence, it would have looked every bit as good filmed here (though the Tarn river looks like it probably does a pretty good job of ensuring there's plenty enough water to go round). There are also lots of those lovely rural roads lined with plane trees and the all-important fields of sunflowers; because let's face it - the Tour wouldn't be le Tour without shots of the peloton riding among fields of sunflowers.

Gadret didn't start today.

The official start was at 13:14, with one rider less than expected because AG2R's John Gadret had sadly decided to abandon overnight due to exhaustion. Gadret - like Contador - has been having problems recovering from this year's notoriously hard-going Giro d'Italia. "I really feel bad since the start," he told CyclingNews some days ago, so he's done a damn good job getting as far as he has. A few riders were seen sounding out the situation in the first few kilometres but apparently decided the time wasn't yet right for a breakaway until the 6km point when a group of nine managed to get away with a small gap, but Sky took over at the front of the peloton and hurried things up a bit so the majority of the escapees were quickly caught.

Eventually, a gang of six led by Mikael Delage (again) and including Lars Boom got ahead and successfully built an advantage of just under half a minute, but with a dearth of real General Classification threats among them the peloton didn't appear particularly concerned, letting them build up the gap to 2'30" by the time the 20km point came around and 3'55" at Cat 3 Côte de Tonnac where Lars Boom was first up for two points and Astana's Andriy Grivko just behind him for one. They then made the most of the descent, increasing the advantage to 4'15" by the time the main group reached the summit.

The peloton split up near Bruniquel as a group of about 35 including Johnny Hoogerland, who is understandably hurting, dropped off the back for a while; but they soon regrouped and got back to work, reducing the escapee's advantage to three and a half minutes as they approached the feeding station and intermediate sprint. For some reason, the gang of six were all being terribly nice and didn't seem to want to compete with one another for the top points, entering the sprint calmly and without the usual hustling. Delage looked quite embarrassed when he finally decided to go for it and was seen to apologise to Boom when he won the 20 points. All a bit silly, really. 2. Jimmy Engoulvent, 3. 17pts; Lars Boom, 15pts; 4. Andriy Grivko, 13pts; 5. Ruben Perez Moreno, 11 pts; 6. Tristian Valentin, 10pts.

Delage seems determined
to spend this whole Tour
in breakaways if he can.

Cavendish was the next one through for 9 points, having made damn sure he was on the ball to prevent Omega-Pharma's André Greipel beating him again after yesterday's stage. 8. Juan Joaquim Rojas, 8pts; 9. Francisco Ventoso, 7pts; 10. Andre Greipel, 6pts; 11. Philippe Gilbert, 5pts; 12. Matt Goss, 4pts; 13. Mark Renshaw 3pts; 14. Bernhard Eisel, 2pts; 15. Jelle Vanendert, 1pt.


The Missile experienced some form of mechanical problems a short while later, but it was rapidly sorted out once the team car reached him and he and Eisel, who had remained with him, worked together efficiently and had rejoined the peloton in next to no time. By the time they'd reached the 48km to go point, the breakaway was 3km ahead but the chase was on and their time was ticking away. Romain Feillu punctured but, with the aid of a tail wind, was soon back with the main pack who had now reduced the gap by another 30".

The second and last climb, Côte de Puylaurens, may have only been a Category 4 but it lasted for 4.2km and passed through some attractive wooded areas which ensured it turned out to be one of the highlights of the stage in the end - helped no end by a sighting of the Devil on the way up. Not many people spotted him this time as he stood among a small crowd on a bend with his El Diablo micro-camper over the road, but enough Twitterers saw him for the sighting to be confirmed. The climb took a lot out of the breakaway, tiring the members sufficiently for the peloton to regain 15" in just one kilometre. Rui Costa was the next for a puncture, passing Vladimir Isaichev who had dropped off the peloton on his way back to the group. Delage was the first to the top and collected his point, but the peloton were gaining ground rapidly and had hacked the gap down to much more manageable minute and a half as they crested the hill.

The weather proved that, as far as it's concerned, while one hand giveth the other taketh away a little later on: the rain stopped and the sun came out for a while, no doubt having a positive effect on rider morale after 142 soggy kilometres; but it chose to do so just as the parcours changed direction, turning that useful tailwind which had been blowing the race along at a healthy rate into a headwind. As would be expected, this affected the escapees to a much greater extent than it did the peloton and the gap fell to 1'15" with 25km to go - an unfortunate time for Juan Joaquim Rojas to puncture, but a couple of Movistar mates stayed with him and got him back up to speed.

HTC were in position with 13km to go, confirming what we all knew - they were planning on taking advantage of an absolutely ideal stage for their standard tactics. 3km later and they'd put the pedal to the metal to reduce the breakaway advantage to a mere 30". However, over on the other side of the road a chain of red signified that BMC also had plans as they surrounded Cadel Evans and protected him, ready to launch their own assault. The escapees were sharing the load equally in an effort to keep going, but there was no chance they'd be able to retain an advantage against a two-pronged attack of this kind.

When HTC's tactics work, Cav is
virtually unbeatable on a stage
such as this one.

Eisel got the ball rolling with 6km to go, leading out Peter Velits, Tony Martin, Mark Renshaw and Matt Goss as BMC's Marcus Burghardt cruised to the side of the road, apparently finished, just before 5km to go. Lars Boom, a faithful part of the breakaway for all this time, went on the attack and achieved a small lead as the peloton drew near but it was never going to last long - he was caught just half a kilometre later. Sky, Omega and BMC were all well represented at the front of the peloton as Boom was reabsorbed, but by now HTC had everything in place for a textbook demonstration of the train and there really was no other way it could possibly go. Greipel tried, but Cav wasn't going to let him win again and he surged across the line half a bike length in front for his 18th stage win, also taking the green jersey from Philippe Gilbert as he did so.

Tomorrow is going to be very different due to the appearance of the first of the real climbs - Hourquette d'Ancizan (1538 m), Luz-Ardiden (1715 m) and the mighty Col du Tourmalet (2115 m) all put in an appearance, making it almost another race entirely.

Results of Stage 11:

1. CAVENDISH Mark 3h 46' 07"  
2. GREIPEL André
3. FARRAR Tyler
4. GALIMZYANOV Denis
5. HAGEN Edvald Boasson
6. FEILLU Romain
7. ROJAS Jose Joaquin
8. TURGOT Sébastien
9. VENTOSO Francisco
10. BONNET William (all received same time)


Overall General Classification results after Stage 11:

1. VOECKLER Thomas 45h 52' 39"  
2. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon + 01' 49"
3. EVANS Cadel + 02' 26"
4. SCHLECK Frank + 02' 29"
5. SCHLECK Andy + 02' 37"
6. MARTIN Tony + 02' 38"
7. VELITS Peter + 02' 38"
8. KLÖDEN Andréas + 02' 43"
9. GILBERT Philippe + 02' 55"
10. FUGLSANG Jakob + 03' 08"
11. BASSO Ivan + 03' 36"


Points: Mark Cavendish; Climber: Johnny Hoogerland; Youth: Robert Gesink; Team: Europcar; Combative: Mikael Delage.