Now Cav wants to go green!
Mark Cavendish pulled on the Tour de France yellow jersey for the first time in his career yesterday, then led the peloton out of a cold and wet Saint-Lo at the start of stage two and dreamt of keeping it for at least a day.
The dream lasted until the Cote de la Glacerie, the climb to the finish in Cherbourg, where Cavendish, having given his all to stay with the peloton, slipped out the back and out of yellow.
The lead passed to the stage winner, Peter Sagan of Slovakia, another first-time yellow jersey wearer. Cavendish finished 1 minute, 45 seconds down but said he enjoyed his day in yellow, and has now set his sights on the sprinter’s jersey. ‘It was nice when we saw a bit of blue sky, nice to take the long sleeve jersey off,’ he said.
‘ Steve Cummings ( his team-mate) rode incredibly on the front. We knew it was going to be hard for me to keep but we thought why not give it a go? So that’s that. I went a bit deeper than I wanted to. I’ve lost too much time to take back yellow but I’d like to wear green for a little bit. There’s a chance because the first week is a bit flatter. But we’re happy to have worn the yellow.’
It was a good day for one of the other British stars, defending champion Chris Froome, who was 10th on the stage to move up to fifth overall. Froome’s performance looked even better when compared to those of his rivals. alberto Contador, who crashed heavily on Saturday, fell again, losing 48 seconds. richie Porte punctured late in the stage and came in with Cavendish. Thibaut Pinot and Vincenzo Nibali also conceded time to Froome.
‘It’s unfortunate for alberto and richie, but it goes with the territory in these kind of stages,’ said Froome. ‘That’s why we make a really big effort to ride up front. It’s unfortunate they (Contador and Porte) have lost time but it’s too early to rule anyone out.’