Cavendish Cannot Be Beaten

The Progress Report _ The official start of the 13th stage of the 2008 Tour, from Narbonne to Nimes, was at 1.10pm. There were 158 riders at the sign on. There were three category-four climbs in the 13th stage: the cote de la Resclauze (at 62km) the cote de Puechabon (105.5km) and the Pic Saint-Loup (126km). Each offer three, two and one points in the climbing classification for the first three riders at the summit. The two intermediate sprints today will be contested in the last third of the stage, in Saint-Bauzille-de-Montmel (at 139.5km) and Villeveillle (155.5km). The temperature at the start was 27 degrees Celsius with a wind blowing from the west at about 40km/h. _ _ Terpstra & Brard Prepare To Be Baked _ The moment the flag dropped to signal the start, Florent Brard (COF) attacked. He was followed by Niki Terpstra (MRM) and the peloton couldn’t care less. There was no reaction, not even a shrug of the shoulders by a counter-attacker and so the advantage of the escapees grew rapidly. At 10km, 5’00”; at 20km, 9’25”; at 21km – the maximum gain – 9’55” before the teams of first and second in stage 12 – Columbia and FDJ – moved to the front of the peloton to limit their losses. The deficit diminished: 8’00” at 39km, 6’45” at the first climb (when Lang jumped ahead of the bunch to add another point to his collection). The peloton was 6’35” behind at the 75km mark. The average speed for 2nd hour was 38.1km/h. _ _ Slowly Reeling In The Escape _ The same teams controlled the chase for the third hour, bringing the advantage down to 3’25”. The average speed for hour three was 38.3km/h. The only news until 30km to go was the slow reduction of the leaders’ advantage. It was down to 1’20” at the 27.5km to go mark then Terpstra attacked, leading Brard over the 2nd intermediate sprint line by 10”. Flecha attacked the peloton to claim third place points but was chased down by Auge who took third place in Villevieille (26.5km from the finish). The peloton was at 1’10”. _ _ Terpstra Takes Off! _ With 20km to go, Terpstra was 1’00” ahead of Auge who joined Brard just after the 2nd sprint. The peloton was at 1’40”. With 15km to go, the nine-time Dutch champion (in track cycling events) had a lead of 1’00” on Brard and Auge and 1’10” on the peloton. The Cofidis pair was caught 14km from the finish. Terpstra fought on for four more kilometers but was caught with 10km to go. Sylvain Chavanel (COF) attacked with 8km to go and held off the peloton until 3km to go when the Columbia and Quickstep teams swamped the Milram train that had dominated the head of the peloton after Terpstra’s capture. _ _ The Perfect Sprint By Cavendish _ Milram was swamped by Liquigas going into the final kilometer but the Italian team could do nothing to hold back the King of the Sprints this year. Mark Cavendish was blocked by several riders in the middle of the road with 500m to go but once the sprinters really started to open up he wasted no time in finding first place. He raced head-to-head with McEwen momentarily but then burst into the lead and never had to look back. He dominated the sprint and he “was able to deliver”… again! “I was starting to seize up but I had to kick again with 150m to go and I’m pleased to be able to win again.” _ Cadel Evans finished 37th in the stage. There was no change to top order of the general classification. The Australian Silence-Lotto rider will wear the yellow jersey in stage 14.