Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) won the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France between Limoux and Montpellier in a close sprint finish. The Manx Missile took his fourth stage of the race, and nineteenth in all Tours de France, just ahead of stage three winner Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervélo) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD).
The victory was also the Highroad’s team in all Grand Tours.
The sprint finish came after a long breakaway from Mickael Delage (FDJ), Nicki Terpstra (Quick Step), Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), with Terpstra only hauled in with three kilometres to go. HTC-Highroad also had to overcome a late attack from Cavendish’s green jersey rival Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) but, despite the disruption caused to the leadout, the team managed to deliver its man to the line in its usual style.
“I didn’t feel that good today to be honest but I don’t think anybody else did either,” said Cavendish at the finish. “It was a really nervous day, you saw everyone fighting for the front the whole day. I’m lucky that I’ve got a group of guys like I have to keep me out of trouble at the front and that kind of took the pressure off a bit but it’s still hard.”
Despite the stage only featuring one 4th category climb, the stage was far from flat, and far from easy for the eventual winner.
“It was up and down, there were crosswinds the whole day,” he explained. “It was a difficult stage but it was a sprint and the guys controlled it. They delivered me perfectly to the last 200 metres.
“It means a hell of a lot to me to see what the guys do,” he added. “They work incredibly hard for me, they helped me get through the mountains and it wasn’t easy to be able to get here and do that [to win again – ed] is all about respect.”
The Pyrénées are over but the race now heads towards the Alps
With the Pyrénées out of the way the 192.5km from Limoux to the university city of Montpellier looked on paper to be a simple stage for the sprinters. With tired legs after three tough days in the mountains, the winds that habitually blow across this part of France, and the inevitable breakaway would make it far more complicated though.
A split in the peloton could cost any one, or more, of the overall contenders valuable time, just as it did on the road to La Grande-Motte on the third stage in 2003. All of the race’s top men would have to pay special attention throughout the day though, which was likely to render a simple looking stage stressful for almost all concerned.
The inevitable FDJ rider gets into the early break
True to the pattern of almost every stage of the race so far, a small group got away in the first two kilometres. were the five men to do it and, with the Pyrénées still in the peloton’s legs they were allowed to go.
After 6km they had already opened up a lead of 2’50” over the lethargic peloton; none of them was even remotely a danger to the race lead of Voeckler, and so the Europcar was not interested in working to hold them back.
Delaplace, the youngest rider in the race, had been in previous breaks on stages five and ten; his presence in the stage fifteen escape made for a nice symmetry, but he would not be able to continue with stage twenty, since it would be a time trial.
FDJ had been on the attack in almost every stage, with Sandy Casar and Jérémy Roy coming close to stage victory on the previous two days. Delage himself had been in the stage-long break on stages three, seven, eleven, as well as stage fourteen the previous day. With the French team’s sprinter William Bonnet finishing outside the time limit the previous day, they had little hope in the almost inevitable sprint finish and so a breakaway was its only real option.
Europcar is not interested so HTC-Highroad takes control again
With Europcar unwilling to chase too hard, HTC-Highroad put Lars Bak and Danny Pate on the front to keep the gap in check. It had risen to 3’55” at the 16km point, before coming down to close to three minutes once the control of the peloton was settled. The gap then fluctuated between two and a half and three and a half minutes, as the direction of the wind changed from tail to cross.
“It was a good day for us but I don’t think that the teams of the sprinters did their job to make us happy,” said Voeckler at the finish. “It was in their interest and it was normal that they do a good job.
“For us it was a good day and, as it was a flat stage, it was welcome because yesterday’s stage was very hard,” he added.
There was a brief split in the peloton catching out World champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) but it was soon all together again.
As the leaders passed through the town of Aigues-Vives after 72km their lead had been cut to 2’30”, but as yellow jersey Voeckler and green jersey Cavendish stopped for a ‘natural break’ it grew again to 3’20” a few kilometres later.
At the foot of the only climb of the day, the 4th category Côte de Villespassans after 80km, the quintet’s lead was up to 4’15” but, as Ignatiev led over the top, it was back down to 3’11”. The entire HTC-Highroad team was on the front of the peloton by this time, keeping the pace high on behalf of Cavendish.
Through the feedzone at Cessenon-sur-Orb, with 90km to go, the advantage was down to 2’42” and soon afterwards, as the race entered the final 75km, it had dropped below 2’30”.
The favourites come forward to stay safe in the wind
As the course began to switch direction Leopard Trek moved its riders forward to keep the Schleck brothers out of trouble, in case the wind caused the peloton to split. Just at this point Andriy Grivko (Astana) jumped off the front in pursuit of the breakaways. The Ukranian was only able to stay ahead for a few kilometres though, before drifting back into the fold.
With 70km to go the gap had dropped to two minutes, where it was held by HTC-Highroad. The front of the peloton began to get very crowded a few kilometres later, as BMC Racing brought Cadel Evans forward with 65km to go.
The breakaway’s advantage remained largely static at around two minutes until it approached the intermediate sprint in Montagnac with 46km to go. Dumoulin, the sprinter in the group launched himself from third place in the line but Delage was expecting the move. The FDJ rider jumped onto Dumoulin’s wheel, then moved alongside as the line approached and managed to beat him by just over a tyre’s width.
Behind them, HTC-Highroad was leading Cavendish out with Movistar pulling José Joaquin Rojas up behind him. Rojas tried to come around Cavendish but the Manxman managed to hold him off, with Philippe Gilbert (Movistar) taking third.
The gap had dropped to 58 seconds after the accelerations of those battling for the green jersey, but it drifted out to 1’40” again as the peloton regrouped.
The race favourites’ teams began to bring their men to the front of the peloton once more as the race entered an area exposed to the wind. The HTC-Highroad team suddenly found itself crowded out as Leopard Trek, BMC Racing and Saxo Bank-SunGard added their numbers to those of Europcar.
The break is almost in sight and it splits apart
With 25km to go, the jostling for position at the front of the peloton had cut the lead back down to a minute. With 22.5km to go though, Ignatiev jumped away in a typical move fro the Olympic points race champion. The Russian, who was crowned national time trial champion just before the race, managed to pull himself clear, but Terpstra recognised the danger and fought his way across.
Despite their increased activity, the peloton was just 55 seconds behind them as they entered the final 20km in the race. The three Frenchmen were 14 seconds behind as they passed under the banner; despite the home nation currently holding the yellow jersey, it seemed as though the French were not going to be able to take their first stage of this year’s race just yet.
Delage, Dumoulin and Delaplace drifted steadily back towards the peloton, which was still led by HTC-Highroad with the favourites right behind them, and were caught with just over 15km to go. The two leaders were still 42 seconds clear though, and still working hard together.
Movistar was moving forward alongside HTC-Highroad, with Team Sky and Omega Pharma-Lotto coming up behind them. With just over 10km to go, the course turned into a headwind but the two riders still had 25 seconds.
Terpstra goes alone, then Gilbert tries to take his chance
As they entered the city of Montpellier, HTC-Highroad was in full cry but Terpstra and Ignatiev were holding on. Sensing his partner was tiring with 6.4km to go though, Terpstra went alone, but the gap was down to just eight seconds.
The former Dutch champion, who was one of the most active riders in the spring Classics before a freak crash in the time trial of the Driegaagse De Panne saw him break his collarbone, was not about to lie down; with 5km to go he had pulled out his advantage to twelve seconds.
Into the final four kilometres though, Garmin-Cervélo lent its muscle to the chase in the form of Christian Vande Velde on behalf of Tyler Farrar, and the gap began to close again. With 3.1km to go, with the peloton almost upon Terpstra, Gilbert jumped ahead, hoping that the slightly complicated and twisty run in would disrupt the chase enough.
The Belgian champion was followed by Anthony Roux (FDJ) and then Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM), as they shot past Terpstra. Neither Roux or Marcato could, or would, go around Gilbert though and they were pulled back with two kilometres to go.
“When Gilbert was attacking the guys were in control,” said Cavendish. “They kept calm when normally it’s easy to panic when that happens... but they brought him back slowly and that kept me in contention and I was able to sprint for the win. I’m really proud of the guys today.”
The sprinters’ teams are in full control again but the result still isn’t certain
Marcato tried again but the Lampre-ISD team was on him and pulling Alessandro Petacchi towards what they hoped would be his first win of the race. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) was pulling Ben Swift forward too, while the Omega Pharma-Lotto team was positioning André Greipel behind them.
Matt Goss seized the head of the peloton for HTC-Highroad though, with Mark Renshaw on his wheel, who in turn had Cavendish in tow. Renshaw launched Cavendish for the line, just as Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) made his own bid for glory, but the Manxman was ahead on the road and the Italian sruggled to get on terms.
Farrar and Petacchi were both gaining, but had left it too late. Both riders could say that, had the course been another twenty metres longer, they would have beaten Cavendish, but it wasn’t and the Manxman had timed his own sprint to perfection.
With Rojas only managing fifth, and Gilbert missing out at the finish altogether after his late attack, the Manxman increases his lead in the battle for the green jersey but doesn’t feel safe yet.
“I don’t know if I’ve secured the green jersey just yet,” he conceded. “If you look at the results from two years ago, it seemed like I had it but Thor [Hushovd] got it back and you can’t guarantee anything.
“We’ll keep trying and get as many points in the bank as possible and see what happens on the Champs-Elysées.”
There was a split in the peloton in the fast closing kilometres with around a third of the field caught behind it. None of the overall contenders were affected though and, having passed a relatively easy day with HTC-Highroad taking the pressure off his Europcar once again, Voeckler takes his yellow jersey into the second rest day.
“Everyone is happy and I feel that the guys are really proud to ride for this jersey so I have to do... try something,” he said. “I’m not obliged to keep the jersey but I must give all I can to hold onto it.”
Result stage 15
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad
2. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Cervélo
3. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-ISD
4. Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
5. José Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar
6. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
7. Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Quick Step
8. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis
9. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar
10. Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
Standings after stage 15
1. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Europcar
2. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek @ 1’49”
3. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team @ 2’06”
4. Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek @ 2’15”
5. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale @ 3’16”