Bennett 10th as Cavendish times it right
SAM BENNETT must have felt the adrenaline rush to beat them all as he closed in on the l i ne at Fougeres yesterday.
And while he may not have experienced the ultimate in the form of a stage win, he can’t but be pleased that he finally figured. In the end, it was Mark Cavendish (who else) who claimed the 26th stage win of a quite brilliant Tour de France career that was supposed to come in Harrogate last year. Then in Zeeland last Sunday, and Amiens on Wednesday.
After a frustrating period, things are starting to become rather desperate for the Manx Missile. Not least with a new contract to be discussed imminently, be it with his current Etixx- Quick Step team or a rival outfit.
It was becoming so bad, Cavendish jokingly conceded last night, that he worried his team-mates were ready to quit on him. ‘We’d had two wins and had taken the yellow jersey,’ he said. ‘It was just me who was letting them down in the sprints. I have to thank my team because they could have given up on me.’
Here in Fougeres last night, however, he let nobody down, even overcoming the absence of an important lead-out man in Tony Martin and a fairly steep uphill finish to beat Greipel to the line.
Also among the pack to cross the line first was Tipperary man Sam Bennett, who claimed a 10th-place finish for yesterday’s stage in a time of 4hrs 27min 25sec. However, he still remains 175th in the overall classifications.
As for Cavendish he now admits, at 30, that he is no longer the dominant sprinting force he once was. ‘If I’d hit out [gone early] in the past I’d win seven out of 10,’ he said. ‘With the quality of the sprinters around today it will be more like one out of 10.’
But Cavendish is a superb bike racer and that race craft, that ability to jump from wheel to wheel and squeeze through a gap amid the chaos and violence of a bike sprint, saw him triumph once again here.
‘Today was about not being impatient, although I almost l eft i t too l ong. If Andre (Greipel) had closed the barr i er I wouldn’t have got through. But he was a gentleman today, finishing straight and allowing me to race.’
Cavendish and Greipel have not always seen eye to eye, once clashing as team-mates with the British sprinter claiming that even on an off day he was better.
That has not been the case here. Indeed the sight of Peter Sagan contesting every sprint, and even beating him this week, would have troubled Cavendish when the absence of the mighty Marcel Kittel from this race was meant to translate into multiple wins for Etixx.
The first week of the Tour has been bittersweet for the Belgian t e am. Sunday’s tactical disaster did not just cost them the stage win but the yellow and green jerseys too. But two stage victories and the yellow jersey for Martin then followed, only for Martin to crash out of the race in the maillot jaune on Thursday with a fractured collarbone; an injury that finally saw Chris Froome regain the race leader’s jersey last night. CYCLING’S ruling body the UCI insisted last night that it would not tolerate racism despite allowing a Belarusian cyclist to remain in the Tour of Austria after calling a black African rider a ‘n****r’.
Natnael Berhane, the Eritrean victim of the abuse on Wednesday’s fourth stage, was asked by the UCI race commissionaire if he wanted to see Branislau Samoilau ejected from the race at the request, in writing, of the South Africabased team MTN-Qhubeka.
A letter of complaint sent to the race jury said Samoilau had responded to Berhane passing him by saying: ‘F**k you n****r.’
But Berhane accepted an apology from Samoilau and a donation of a month’s salary to the African cycling charity MTN represent. Samoilau’s own Poland-based team — CCC Sprandi Polkowice — said yesterday that he will face further sanctions from them. ‘Sporting directors and the team’s management will meet after the Tour of Austria to determine the punishment,’ said a CCC spokesman.
But there will be no official sanction from the UCI, who appeared happy that the matter had been dealt with internally until MTN president Douglas Ryder revealed the i ncident to Sportsmail on Thursday.
A statement from the UCI said: ‘The commissaires’ jury (at the Tour of Austria) has investigated this matter and has stressed that any racist abuse is wholly unacceptable.
‘ The rider has offered to donate one month’s salary to the team’s foundation and all parties were satisfied with this action.’