At one point earlier in this Tour it seemed that Mark Cavendish was out of the race for the Maillot Vert, with the Manx rider being outmanoeuvred by Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma Lotto) on several stages. However in the space of two days he’s turned things around, netting second in Carmaux on Tuesday, then racing to a fine victory in Lavaur yesterday.
The net result is his third stage win of the race and – equally significantly – the green jersey as most consistent rider in this year’s Tour. Two years after he last wore it, he now wants to hang onto it all the way to Paris.
“I hope I get to keep the green jersey this year,” he explained in his post-race interview with ITV. “We’ve been fighting for it all along; all the intermediate sprints we’ve gone for, the finishes we’ve gone for... Fifteen points is a narrow margin and we’ll keep fighting.”
Cavendish heads towards the mountains with a total of 251 points, sixteen ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team) and twenty up on Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto). Greipel is fourth, but is 87 points back and facing a big fight.
Cavendish was beaten by the latter in Tuesday’s bunch sprint. Their history has been strained, but he was gracious in defeat, praising his rival for the way he launched his move. “I spoke to Andre today and that was technically one of the best sprints I have ever seen…not just by him, but by anyone. He rode it perfectly. I made it a small mistake, and I made sure I didn’t make the same mistake today.
“When I got the leadout, boom, I hit it…I am not going to surge and hit it, I hit it. You can see when I hit it, I get the gap, I get the acceleration…my most dangerous point is my acceleration and if I do that, then I get a gap and hold it. That is what I made sure I did today.”
HTC Highroad is trying to find a new backer – or, possibly, to extend with HTC itself – and has set the second rest day of this year’s Tour as the deadline to do so. Some of its riders are already said to be in talks with other teams, and so the management needs to quickly tie something up and be able to plan for 2012 and beyond. The pre-race suggestion from owner Bob Stapleton is that he will close things up if nothing is in place before the end of the Tour.
The riders are all pulling together at this point, working to ensure as much success as possible for the squad. That success gives Stapleton leverage, although thus far the team has put its weight behind Cavendish, who is thought to be leaving next year. Tony Martin, Peter Velits and Tejay Van Garderen will aim to do something in the mountains in order to show the team’s multi-dimensional nature, even if it’s clear that they have burned up more energy thus far than many of the GC contenders. Stapleton will hope that they can still fare well in the days ahead.
Cavendish spoke about that backing yesterday, saying that the work done by others was crucial. He also stated that losing on Tuesday gave him a real motivation to get things right on stage eleven. “When the guys ride all day like they did yesterday [Tuesday] and I don’t finish the job, it is hard for me to take…I go out and do it again and make sure that I win.
“The guys were phenomenal…there was a group of six guys up the road, with some of the strongest guys in the peloton there, and we rode with two guys for the majority of the day, Lars Bak and Danny Pate. At the end, we had to put Tejay up there, we had to put Peter Velits up there and we had to put Bernie up there to ride and bring it back. Some of the other teams came up.
“But it shows – we have got Peter Velits, we have got Tony Martin, both going for GC, and they just give everything for it. They give everything to make sure we win here…it shows what an incredible group of guys I am working with.”
When Cavendish gets things right, he is the most dominant sprinter in cycling. He said that he didn’t pay attention to where Greipel was before launching his sprint, but rather chose to jump early and give it everything.
“I just went. I just said I would kick…when I kick, normally I get a gap and I win,” he said. “That is all I wanted to do today.
“It was quite dangerous at the finish…it was so close, it was Feillu…I’m not saying the same like I did last time, it wasn’t dangerous, but we were so close together that his wheel caught on the ratchet of my shoe. My shoe came undone with 500 to go. If you look at the overhead, you see me take my buckle and put it back in the shoe, and I have to do it up with 500 to go.”
Thanks to the win, Cavendish was in a very good mood, with a weight clearly off his shoulders. When told he had taken the green jersey, he became even happier. “Ah, lovely,” he said, giving a sigh of relief.
It remains to be seen if he can defend it for the following ten stages, but even if Gilbert or Rojas take it back in the mountains, he’ll stay close and try to grab it back before, or in, Paris on July 24th.