Cavendish strikes again and rules out quitting before Paris
Briton beats Kristoff and Kittel for fourth stage win Rider remains focused on Tour despite Olympic aims
Mark Cavendish claimed it was still his intention to ride all the way to Paris next Sunday after his extraordinary Tour de Renaissance continued yesterday with a fourth victory.
The Manxman, who heads to Brazil next month to attempt to win the first Olympic medal of his career, showed he still had the scintillating form of week one as he easily came around his rival Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quickstep) on the run-in to the Bird Park in VillarsLes-Dombes before beating Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) to the line.
Kittel was angered by Cavendish appearing to swerve in front of him, waving his arm in protest, but the race jury had no issue with the Manxman’s sprint and allowed the win to stand.
Afterwards Cavendish brushed aside suggestions that he might not fancy putting his legs through four days in the Alps next week, saying he “might as well try” to reach the Champs Élysées as long as he was feeling good.
“No, there are two more sprint opportunities I think,” Cavendish replied when asked whether his win changed anything and whether he might now quit the race early to spend more time on the track. “Monday in Bern – it’s not an easy sprint but it’s a sprint. It’s on Nelson Mandela Day so it’s important for the [African Dimension Data] team. Then the rest day just four days before Paris… I may as well try.
“I’ve [already] said that I’m not going to put myself over the edge. If I get sick for instance, I don’t want to spend days in bed ill like I did just before the [last] Olympics. But I feel in good shape. The team’s morale is good. So I’ll keep going as long as I can.”
After Friday’s sombre individual time trial, when the sport paid tribute to the victims of the Nice terrorist attack, there was another minute’s silence at the start of yesterday’s stage. It was slow going on the road from Montélimar, with a serious headwind of 60kph. Breakaway specialist Jeremy Roy (FDJ) was joined by Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling), Italy’s Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18) and American Alex Howes (Cannondale-Garmin) in a fourman move, but their lead never rose above five minutes.
Roy and Elmiger lasted until 3km to go, exchanging a quick handshake as they were swallowed up by the bunch. Kittel’s Etixx-Quickstep train then took over. Cavendish bided his time, and was perfectly placed on Kittel’s wheel when the German launched his sprint through a gentle right-hander with 200m to go, coming around him with ease before holding up four fingers as he beat Kristoff to the line by half a bike length.
It was the 30th stage win of Cavendish’s Tour career, putting him just four stage victories behind Eddy Merckx’s all-time record. “A lot of people have asked what is different this year,” he reflected of his astonishing form, which many have attributed to his return to the track. “And to be fair, it is the track, but it’s not what people think. It’s not really more leg speed or strength. I’m the same physically as I have been the last years. It’s just that you kind of refresh your racing nous when you ride track. You learn to be patient, assess situations really quickly.
“I’ve been a lot more patient than I was last year, as you saw today. It’s normally your instinct to jump when the person in front of you jumps. But I knew Marcel had been on the front earlier. I had assessed with 2km to go that he only had four guys and that was not enough into a headwind. His team did a brilliant job. Sabatini did more than I thought he would. But Kittel was left too long on the front. It was just a case of just waiting for him to lose his peak speed and then jump around him.”
Of Kittel’s objections, Cavendish said he was “way past him” by the time he veered right, adding that the German was probably just frustrated. “He hit me on the back,” he said when asked if they had spoken. “I thought he was just saying well done. Obviously not!”
Chris Froome (Team Sky) said he was happy to have had a day sheltering in the wheels ahead of today’s “tricky” stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz, which features six categorised climbs. “It’s a stage which probably has been a bit underestimated,” said Froome who leads by 1 min 47 sec from Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo). “If someone’s not ready for it they could be caught out.”