CYCLING/TOUR DE FRANCE:AFTER ANOTHER withering victory in a bunch sprint, with which he regained the points' leaders green jersey and equalled a British record, Mark Cavendish found himself being called to account over allegations that he has been displaying signs of arrogance.
Accused by L'Equipeof uttering lurid anti-French remarks while being kept in a queue at an airport on Sunday night, he provided a response quite as entertaining as the race itself.
“I think I get hot-headed sometimes,” he said. “I got shown the article this morning. It might have been nice to have the name of the writer of the article or the name of the rider who’s supposedly said these things, so that I could go and see what the problem was.
“I take it as a compliment that they’re going to try and start s**t about something that’s nothing to do with my bike riding, because they’ve got nothing to criticise my bike riding about. I made an effort this winter to try and learn French. I’m not confident enough yet to talk it, but I can understand questions. I love to come here and race.
“For sure I’m going to get arsey at some riders, because I’m an a*****e, but their nationality is irrelevant. I’ve got to laugh at it and brush it off. But the damage is done now. Half of France got up this morning and read it.”
Cavendish also swept aside an accusation that, while riding with the autobus – the group of sprinters at the rear of the field – during Saturday’s mountain stage, he failed to do his share of work to maintain the pace. “I’m in a good team and I’ve got to save my energy,” he said. “Maybe it’s because there are no doping stories and they’ve got to find something to write about.”
There is something of the scally in the way the 24-year-old from the Isle of Man tends to get his punch in first and apologise, if absolutely necessary, later. A volatile nature is useful to a sprinter, who is required to explode off the front of a bunch and take no prisoners in the final metres, but the rough edge of Cavendish’s tongue, amusing as it can be, will require smoothing away sooner or later.
Yesterday, having equalled Barry Hoban’s record of eight stage wins in the Tour, set between 1967 and 1975, he almost slipped again when asked if he had discussed the sprinter’s art with the Yorkshireman.
“Yes.” A pause. “He’s a nice guy.” Another pause. “He talks a lot to me at dinners and so on, and he’s given me some advice, but he’s also said some things in the press that offended me a little bit.”
A longer pause. “But it’s nice to be able to be spoken of in the same sentence as one of the great British sprinters.”
An hour earlier there had been nothing but sure-footedness in the way Cavendish’s Columbia-HTC team set him up for the final dash. He had watched the overhead footage of the previous day’s sprint and noted how it looked like “a fruit salad of team colours”, with the white line of the nine Columbia riders down the middle, maintaining perfect discipline.
“That’s how it was again today,” he said, pointing out that it was not a team custom-built for the sole purpose of catapulting him to the finish. “There’s Kim Kirchen, who’s a massive contender for the general classification, there’s Maxime Monfort, who’s a climber, there’s Bert Grabsch, the world time trial champion, and there’s Mick Rogers, also a time trial champion. They all know that if they commit themselves 100 per cent then we’ve got the best chance of coming out victorious, and they’ll ride for that.”
With 150 metres to go he was about to take the lead from Mark Renshaw, the last of his lead-out men, when Thor Hushovd appeared at his shoulder. The sight of the green jersey, taken from him by the Norwegian in Barcelona last Thursday, was enough to inspire a final blast that took him to the line, with the American rider Tyler Farrar in second place, Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus in third and Hushovd fading to fifth.
The holders of the yellow and polka-dot jerseys, Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy and Egoi Martinez of Spain, remain unchanged.
Today’s flattish stage from Tonnerre to Vittel is likely to offer Cavendish the chance to erase Hoban’s record, and perhaps to undergo another test of his diplomatic skills.
Roche waits
Nicolas Roche did not go for the sprint yesterday, and rolled across the line in 44th place.
But he is a little frustrated by team instructions.
“Because I was sprinting better than the team sprinter, or was close to him on some stages, they were saying that I was not leading him out correctly. I just decided that I would sit up and not go for it.
“Today they asked me to ride for him, so I did that until three kilometres to go, then I rode for Nocentini to make sure he was not caught out by any splits in the bunch.”
He hopes to have more freedom on today’s lumpy stage. “It will be a harder stage and I think they will give me a bit of freedom to aim for the sprint. We’ll see.”
STAGE 11 (Vatan to Saint-Fargeau, 192km)
1 Mark Cavendish (Brit) Team Columbia HTC 4hrs 17mins 55secs, 2 Tyler Farrar (US) Garmin Slipstream, 3 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Francaise des Jeux, 4 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank, 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team, 6 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis Le Credit en Ligne, 7 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram, 8 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 9 William Bonnet (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom, 10 Nikolai Troussov (Rus) Team Katusha, 11 Marco Bandiera (Ita) Lampre NGC, 12 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha, 13 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne, 14 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas, 15 Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano, 16 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step, 17 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana, 18 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Skil-Shimano, 19 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha, 20 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Lampre NGC. Other: 44 Nicolas Roche (Ire) AG2R La Mondiale all same time.
General classification: 1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 43hrs 28mins 59secs, 2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana at 0.06, 3 Lance Armstrong (US) Astana at 0.08, 4 Levi Leipheimer (US) Astana at 0.39, 5 Bradley Wiggins (Brit) Garmin Slipstream at 0.46, 6 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana at 0.54, 7 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia HTC at 1.00, 8 Christian Vande Velde (US) Garmin Slipstream at 1.24, 9 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank at 1.49, 10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at 1.54, 11 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne at 2.16, 12 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia HTC at 2.21, 13 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank at 2.25, 14 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas at 2.40, 15 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale at 2.45, 16 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team at 2.52, 17 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel Euskadi at 3.02, 18 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence Lotto at 3.07, 19 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia HTC at 3.16, 20 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha at 3.49. Other: 50 Nicolas Roche (Ire) AG2R La Mondiale 16.45.
Sprinters: 1. Mark Cavendish (Brit) Columbia 176 pts, 2. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo 169, 3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 110, 4. Tyler Farrar (US) Garmin 110, 5. Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Milram 100.
King of the mountains: 1. Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel 79 pts, 2. Christophe Kern (Fra) Cofidis 59, 3. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 56, 4. Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 49, 5. Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bbox Bouygues 49.
Youth: 1. Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia 43hrs 29mins 59secs, 2. Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank +49, 3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas +54, 4. Roman Kreuziger (Cze Rep) Liquigas +1:40, 5. Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel +3:26. Other: 9. Nicolas Roche (Ire) AG2R +15:45.
