HTC-Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish has suffered a huge loss despite his stage eleven victory today, as leadout man Mark Renshaw was disqualified from the Tour de France for actions in the closing meters of today's sprint. Renshaw, who has now piloted Cavendish to three stage wins in this year's race, was ejected after he head-butted Garmin-Transitions' sprinter Julian Dean, and then changed his line which blocked Dean's teammate Tyler Farrar.
"It's never on purpose to impede another sprinter, that's for sure," he told Versus after the stage. "I pride myself on being one of the cleanest sprinters in the peloton. That's probably why I'm a leadout man and not a sprinter myself, because every now and then it gets a little bit scary."
In the final meters the Dean drifted slightly towards the Australian, and Renshaw retaliated with a series of head-butts to ward off the Kiwi. Cavendish then launched himself up the left side off of Renshaw's wheel, but the Australian changed his line and ended up impeding Farrar's path to the line.
"Today was a fair sprint. The Garmin rider tried to come across on me and a 300 or 400 meters to go I'm not going to brake," he said. "I think I had the fair line there, I was in front already for 100 meters. After Cavendish went I still hadn't given 100 percent, so it's a smart move for me to try to take as many points as possible, because if I beat Petacchi or Thor I take valuable points, you know, so I tried to sprint to the line."
This isn't the first time the Tour de France has showcased full-contact sprints to the line. Most recently, the sprint into Tours during the 2005 edition of the race Renshaw's compatriots Robbie McEwen (Katusha) and Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank) involved in a tussle on the run into the finish. The race jury decided to relegate McEwen to last place for his head-butting antics that day.
Dean didn't have a harsh word for the HTC-Columbia rider, and summed up his thoughts on the incident after the stage by saying, "It's sprinting, no one crashed, that's the big thing." His teammate Farrar wasn't as thrilled with the move adding, "The rule is you ride a straight line, and he almost crashed everyone."
There was a different point of view taken from the HTC-Columbia leadout man. "As always, I wanted to prepare the sprint for Cavendish in the best way possible, but Julian Dean was fighting for position. I was convinced that his maneuver was intended to lock up Cavendish, and I couldn't let that happen. Hence my reaction," Renshaw told Belga.
Renshaw wasn't as lucky as McEwen, and he will now be forced to watch the race on television. The decision not to fine and relegate the rider might have been because there were two infractions in the same sprint, with a head-butt and deviation from his line. It could also have to do with race organizers, the Amaury Sports Organization, being under fire by the riders for spicing up the route to make the race more spectacular at the expense of rider safety. With recent crashes in field sprints coming under scrutiny, the race jury is likely out to make a statement. Regardless of the reasons behind the decision, HTC-Columbia will now likely use Gent-Wevelgem winner Bernhard Eisel as the Manxman's new pilot into the final meters.
Today Mark Cavendish won his thirteenth Tour de France stage to surpass the likes of McEwen, Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini. The celebration for the team will now be bitter sweet.
"Those people fighting after the stage [ed. reffering to Carlos Barredo and Rui Costa's fight earlier this week], it's always on us...I can't really comment on it, sorry," said a disappointed Cavendish to Sporza upon finding out the news.
Video of Tour de France stage 11 finish