Cavendish: A Winning Machine

The Progress Report
The 192km 11th stage of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau began at 12.53pm with 170 riders in the race. Kurt Asle Arvesen (SAX) was forced to abandon because of a fractured collarbone sustained in a crash during stage 10. The conditions for the stage were mild with temperatures of around 25 degrees Celsius, blue skies and a light sout-westerly breeze. There were two category-four hills on the course, the cote d’Allogny (at 40.5km) and cote de Perreuse (150km). The intermediate sprints were in Quincy (26.5km), St-Geols (73.5km) and Suilly-la-Tour (114.5km).  

Accidents In The Opening Kilometers
The first attack of the stage came from Roulston (CTT) and Beppu (SKS) in the opening kilometer. They were caught at 7km after gaining only a small advantage. There was a crash at 14km involving Vande Velde (GRM) and Rosseler (QSI). The race was neutralized momentarily at the 15km mark because of a collapsed structure that blocked the road. This was quickly resolved but it allowed the accident victims to rejoin the bunch. There was another crash, at 24km, involving Rojas (GCE) and Righi (LAM); at the same time two riders attacked. Vansummeren (SIL) and Sapa (LAM) led the peloton to the Quicy sprint and had a lead of 40” on a peloton that had split in two; the second group was at 55”. The advantage increased rapidly: 3’15” at 33km, 4’45” at 45km… but this was the maximum gain.
The average speed for the first hour was the fastest yet in this year’s Tour: 49.3km/h!
Columbia and AG2R led the peloton and, at 65km, were 3’50” behind Sapa and Vansummeren. At the second intermediate sprint, the peloton was led by AG2R and was 3’25” behind. The average speed for the second hour was 42.0km/h.

Arranging The Catch…
The Columbia and AG2R teams maintained their position at the front of the peloton. They slowly but surely reeled in the escapees: 3’45” at 89km, 3’10” at 105km, 2’40” at 125km. The average for third hour was down to 40.8km/h.
Pellizotti was led to the line of the second climb by a Liquigas team-mate and took the one point for third, 1’45” behind Sapa and van Summeren. With 25km to go, the peloton was at 1’00”. The escapees had a lead of just 20” with 10km to go; two kilometers later Milram riders also started moving forward to form a lead-out train of their own, to the right of the line of Columbia riders. The leaders were caught right at the 5km to go mark.

Fabulous Fourth For Cavendish
Even his team manager said it would be a tough stage for Cavendish to win but Bob Stapleton said mid-way through the race that he still had faith in the sprinter. “If Mark feels good,” said Columbia’s manager, “we’ll ride for him.” That’s exactly what they did and despite strong turns of pace from Milram and Rabobank riders in the closing kilometers, no other team had the control that Columbia had. They launched the dynamo on his dash to the line 100m out and he held off a strong challenge by Tyler Farrar (GRM) in the closing meters. This was the closest of his victories this year but Cavendish always appeared to be in control. Once again Nocentini finished 34th in the stage. He will wear the yellow jersey in stage 12.