CYCLING:JUST OVER 100 miles across Brittany with only one ranked hill and a howling southwesterly on the backside might sound like a relatively straightforward day at the Tour de France. It was anything but, as the images of the day showed: one cyclist after another prostrate or at the roadside as crash followed crash, and Mark Cavendish slumped against a barrier getting his breath back after one of the hardest Tour stage wins of his career.
“I had to give it over 100 per cent. It will take a couple of days to recover from this,” he said. His win was unexpectedly demanding but otherwise this has been a typical start to a Cavendish Tour: a disagreement with the judges, an exchange of views in the press with the Frenchman Romain Feillu (“a kamikaze” said Cavendish; “arrogant” responded Feillu) and attacks on the people he yesterday termed “ignoramuses”.
In his post-race press conference he had an exchange of views with a French writer who had got his facts wrong regarding the sprint, which will doubtless reinforce Cavendish’s sense in some quarters he comes in for particular attention.
French television term him l’enfant terrible, and on Tuesday they devoted several minutes to a sequence which highlighted the fact he sometimes moves about in the final kilometre.
This is hardly a heinous crime, he is not alone in doing it, and he just happens to be better at it than his fellows because of his background in track racing, which breeds such skills.
Cavendish can, however, no longer complain the referees are targeting him alone, as yesterday they relegated Tom Boonen and Jose-Joaquin Rojas from the intermediate sprint for offences which looked no worse than Cavendish’s exchange with Thor Hushovd on Monday.
Cavendish admitted yesterday he was uncertain he could win, but he wanted to try to score points for the green points jersey. In the past, only the win would have interested him; as it is, this victory has revitalised his points challenge.
Wins are heavily weighted but, in addition, other contenders such as Hushovd and Tyler Farrar dropped points. Cavendish now lies fourth, 36 points behind Philippe Gilbert and 28 behind Rojas, who may prove to be the toughest challenger.
The organisers have done much to spice up the opening week but yesterday’s X-factor was outside their control, a stiff breeze that produced white horses off the Cote de Penthievre and sped the windsurfers on their way at Pleneuf-Val-Andre. Yesterday, the big faller was Alberto Contador, who admitted he would not sleep easily after landing on his back while Bradley Wiggins had minor bumps after an earlier incident.
Each day the Tour doctors issue a medical bulletin. Yesterday’s was a butcher’s bill: a bruised right shoulder for the French champion Sylvain Chavanel, concussion and a broken collarbone for the Slovenian Janez Brajkovic, an outside chance for a top six placing, cut knees and elbows for the Dutchman Robert Gesink, a man with his eyes on the podium.
Broken collarbones are most common: Brajkovic’s put him out of the race, while the Spaniard Ivan Velasco was another victim.
The 2004 world champion Tom Boonen was another faller, riding the last 30 miles well behind the peloton, with a large bloodstain on the hip of his shorts, but the most bizarre incident involved Contador’s team-mate Nicky Sorensen.
The Dane became entangled with a photographer’s motorbike, and, surreally, fell out of the peloton sans bike. The moto had dragged it from under him, and he was last seen running up the roadside like a small child whose favourite toy had been whipped away by a playground bully.
This is the land of Bernard Hinault, born at Yffiniac, 42km from the finish, and as the field passed through Plangouenal, where the “Badger” took his first win as a youth, Frenchmen, Jeremy Roy and Thomas Voeckler took flight in one of those quixotic ventures that delight the television cameras but usually end within sight of the finish.
The stage belonged to Cavendish, however, and he has another chance today at Lisieux, although he claimed it would take him “two days” to recover from the effort it took to win.
That may be the case, but when he gets a sniff of the line, all bets are off.
GuardianService
STAGE FIVE CARHAIX TO CAP FREHEL, 158kms
1 Mark Cavendish (Brit) HTC-Highroad 3hrs 38mins 32secs, 2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto at same time, 3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team at same time, 4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne at same time, 5 Geraint Thomas (Brit) Sky Procycling at same time, 6 Andre Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto at same time, 7 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 8 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ at same time, 9 Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at same time, 10 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo at same time, 11 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team at same time, 12 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Team RadioShack at same time, 13 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ at same time, 14 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek at same time, 15 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto at same time, 16 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana at same time, 17 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team at same time, 18 Bradley Wiggins (Brit) Sky Procycling at same time, 19 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ at same time, 20 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale at same time.
General classification:1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo 17hrs 36mins 57secs, 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 0.01, 3 Frank Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek at 0.04, 4 David Millar (Brit) Team Garmin-Cervelo at 0.08, 5 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Team RadioShack at 0.10, 6 Bradley Wiggins (Brit) Sky Procycling at same time, 7 Geraint Thomas (Brit) Sky Procycling at 0.12, 8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling at same time, 9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek at same time, 10 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek at same time, 11 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad at 0.13, 12 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad at same time, 13 Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack at 0.18, 14 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack at same time, 15 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team at 0.20, 16 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana at 0.32, 17 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 0.33, 18 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 0.39, 19 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team at 0.40, 20 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar at 0.58.
Other: 24 Nocolas Roche AG2R La Mondiale at 1min 12secs.
Points: 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar 119 pts, 2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 118, 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing 90, 4 Mark Cavendish (Brit) HTC-Highroad) 82, 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Garmin 82, 6 Tyler Farrar (US) Garmin 68.
King of the Mountains:1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing) 2 pts, 2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto) 1, 3 Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ 1, 4 Johnny Hoogerland (Neth) Vacansoleil 1, 5 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Saur-Sojasun 1, 6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo Bank 1.
Teams: 1 Garmin (US) 52hrs 01mins 31secs, 2 Team Sky (Britain) at 2 secs, 3 Leopard (Lux) at 4 secs, 4 RadioShack (US) at 10 secs, 5 HTC-Highroad (US) at 13 secs, 6 Astana (Kazakhstan) at 49 secs.
