CYCLING TOUR DE FRANCE:AFTER ANOTHER victory so clinical it seemed almost undramatic, Britain's Mark Cavendish stands one win away from Barry Hoban's British record, set between 1967 and 1975, of taking eight stages in the Tour de France. Having returned to the dominant form of a week ago with a sustained burst of speed up the Boulevard Roosevelt in Issoudun yesterday, Cavendish is likely to have a chance to draw level with Hoban tomorrow, over a route that promises to end in another of the bunch sprints at which he is currently untouchable, writes RICHARD WILLIAMS
A perfect lead-out from his Columbia-HTC squad funnelled the 24-year-old through two tight right-handers in the closing kilometre and safely on to the ramp of the 250-metre finishing straight, where his power took him away from his pursuers. Thor Hushovd, the 31-year-old Norwegian, settled for a second place that allowed him to keep the points jersey.
Cavendish paid tribute to the way his team-mates had nursed him through three days in the Pyrenees. “I had eight guys trying to help me conserve my energy,” he said, “and that was for one reason – to get more stage wins in the second week. We weren’t going to let that opportunity slip away today, so we took control.
“We were the only team today that kept its formation, with all nine riders up there. There was a slight incline in the last kilometre and we knew we had to go early and because of the corners we had to be at the front. All the guys went, then George (Hincapie) went with a kilometre to go, and then Mark (Renshaw) went earlier than usual. With those corners and the incline, it took a lot of guts. He’s my rider of the day.”
The day’s losers included Britain’s Bradley Wiggins. Having established himself in fifth place in the general classification by riding towards the front of the peloton through the Pyrenees, he dropped to seventh yesterday after being caught in a bunch of 100 riders delayed behind a crash in the closing moments. He was given a time 15 seconds slower than the first 52 finishers, who included the yellow jersey, Rinaldo Nocentini, and the other contenders for the overall leadership.
The concluding bunch sprint formed a considerable contrast to the rest of the Bastille Day stage, in which the riders seemed keen to share the mood of a jour de fete spent picnicking in the countryside or stretched out on the beach.
As the race rolled out of Limoges at an average speed for the first three hours of around 38kph, or 3kph slower than the lowest official prediction, the peloton appeared to be extending Monday’s rest day into a longer break from the rigours of competition.
If they needed an excuse, they had been handed one by the organisers. In an attempt to roll back the frontiers of technology, the use of team radios was prohibited in this flattish stage, a ban that will be repeated on Friday for the much hillier route between Vittel and Colmar. A majority of the 20 teams lodged an objection on Sunday night, something they could have done at any time over the past several weeks. Their view was rejected, but the essentially passive mood of the early part of the day seemed to speak for itself.
“There was a certain understanding in the peloton,” according to Johan Bruyneel, the director of the Astana team and a leading opponent of the ban. “They wanted a day without risk. My opinion hasn’t changed. It’s a bad idea to go back 20 years and to do something stupid like this in the biggest race of the year.”
A group of four riders – Samuel Dumoulin, Benoit Vaugrenard and Thierry Hupond, three Frenchmen hoping for a Bastille Day victory, and Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia – went away early on. The peloton let them sit out until, with 30km remaining, they remembered what they were there for.
As the radio-less riders trundled along, they had plenty of time to notice the company of Boy Scouts waiting to cheer them at the top of the first of three undemanding fourth-category climbs, the group of men and women in traditional costume in Marsac-en-Creuse, the messages advertising next week’s Festival of the Potato in Crevant, the sign in Nohant welcoming them to “the world of George Sand”, the many pledges of villages loyally claiming to be avec le Tour, and the avenue in Gueret decorated with wooden facsimiles of the maillot jaune, each inscribed with the name of a former winner, from the first hero, Maurice Garin, to Carlos Sastre.
Forcibly limited in their ability to communicate with their team directors, the riders chatted among themselves rather more than usual and were even seen passing around messages on pieces of paper.
Those should be banned, too. What we want is more misunderstandings of the kind enshrined in my grandfather’s story about the first World War officer, on another kind of French tour, who sent a message down the line that started as “Send reinforcements – I’m going to advance”, but reached its intended recipient as “Send three-and-fourpence – I’m going to a dance”.
Like most sports, cycling benefits from a bit of chaos.
Guardian Service
Nicolas Roche was 17th, taking another top-20 finish. He remains in 50th overall and is ninth in the best young rider classification. He is also 12 in the points classification.
The Irish road race champion is riding his first Tour de France and had hoped to place in the top-30 overall.
However, with his team-mate Nocentini in the yellow jersey, he has had to ride in service of him. As a consequence, he lost 12 minutes and 20 seconds on stage eight.
That loss will be a source of frustration: had Roche finished with the 53-man peloton on that stage, he would now be 19th overall and fifth in the best young rider classification.
The 25-year-old is likely to have to work for Nocentini as long as he is leading the race, but there is a strong chance the yellow jersey will change hands in a few days.
Providing Roche hasn’t become too fatigued by his efforts, that may free things up for him to chase a stage victory.
TOUR DETAILS
STAGE 10(Limoges to Issoudun, 194.5km)
1 Mark Cavendish (Brit) Team Columbia HTC 4hrs 46mins 43secs, 2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team, 3 Tyler Farrar (US) Garmin Slipstream, 4 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne, 5 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, 6 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 7 Kenny Robert van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano, 8 William Bonnet (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom, 9 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas, 10 Said Haddou (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom, 11 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram, 12 Marco Bandiera (Ita) Lampre NGC, 13 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Silence Lotto, 14 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank, 15 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank, 16 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel, 17 Nicolas Roche(Irl) AG2R La Mondiale, 18 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel Euskadi, 19 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia HTC, 20 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Lampre NGC all at same time.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION:1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 39hrs 11mins 04secs, 2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana at 0.06, 3 Lance Armstrong (US) Astana at 0.08, 4 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana at 0.54, 5 Levi Leipheimer (US) Astana at same time, 6 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia HTC at 1.00, 7 Bradley Wiggins (Brit) Garmin Slipstream at 1.01, 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 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank at 2.25, 13 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia HTC at 2.36, 14 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas at 2.40, 15 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team at 2.52, 16 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale at 3.00, 17 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence Lotto at 3.07, 18 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel Euskadi at 3.17, 19 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia HTC at 3.31, 20 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha at 4.04.
Sprinters:1. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo 147pts, 2. Mark Cavendish (Brit) Columbia 141, 3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 97.
King of the mountains:1. Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel 78pts, 2. Christophe Kern (Fra) Cofidis 59, 3. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 55. Youths:1. Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia 39hrs 12mins 04secs, 2. Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank +49, 3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas +54. Other:9. Nicolas Roche(Ire) AG2R +15:45.
