July 16, 2009
Mark Cavendish: Equals 34 year old British Cycling Record
It’s been an amazing tour this year, out of the 11 stages 5 have had excellent sprints and what’s most amazing is that 4 
have been won by the phenomena Mark Cavendish. The sprint king took away the green jersey from Norwegian Thor Hushovd and also equaled Barry Hoban’s British record of eight stage wins. There were doubts if this would be an ideal stage for Cavendish to charge, but he timed it to the perfection. Till now Cavendish has been the one who started the sprint but in this stage he waited for the right moment and showed the world his caliber as a class sprinter, not to forget he won four stages in last years tour and also has an Olympic gold to his name. It was a disappointment for the green jersey holder as he could manage only a fifth place finish and also lost the jersey to Cavendish.
The 192 kilometers stage 11 was between Vatan to Saint-Fargeau and had 170 riders with one casualty on stage 10 as Kurt Asle Arvesen was forced out of the tour due to a fractured collarbone. The stage consisted of two category four climbs at cote d’Allogny at 40.5 kilometers and cote de Perreuse at 150 kilometers. There were three intermediate sprints in the race Quincy at 26.5 kilometers, St-Geols at 73.5 kilometers and Suilly-la-Tour at 114.5 kilometers. The stage saw an early accident when at the 14th kilometers mark Vande Velde and Rosseler crashed. At the 15 kilometer mark the race came to a halt due to a road block caused by a collapsed structure. This helped the two accident riders to join the main peloton. There was another crash involving Rojas and Righi at the 24 kilometer mark.
Tour leader Nocentini finished the stage at 34th place and will wear the yellow jersey on Thursday in stage 12. He his followed closely by Astana riders Contador and Armstrong.
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Filed Under: Cycling
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