Tour de France stage 19 results, Mark Cavendish Win Again
Mark Cavendish has underlined his status as the best bunch sprinter in the Tour de France with yet another victory in stage 19, yet he most likely won’t wear the green sprinter’s jersey in Paris with Thor Hushovd holding a substantial points lead.
Cavendish said after the race it was his best win of the nine stages he has won in the last two years, in only the third Tour de France he has ridden.
The 178km stage 19 from Bourgoin-Jaillieu to Aubenas was always going to be a stage for those who have got very little out of the race to grab their last chance at glory. Cadel Evans, the Australian from the Silence-Lotto team who has finished second in the last two Tours de France but has languished well off the lead, was one of those who jumped out in the first serious breakaway.
The breakaway eventually numbered twenty riders and their lead stretched out to around three minutes. However the peloton was gradually dragged back up to the leaders by Team Rabobank, who did not have a rider in the breakaway.
The breakaway itself broke up under the pressure, and the group was cut down to Popovych, Millar, Arrieta, Gutierrez and Duque.Yaroslav Popovych (Astana), David Millar (Garmin), Jose Luis Arrieta, (AG2R), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Leonard Duque (Cofidis). THis group lead by as much as 90 seconds, but the peloton wore down even this array of strong riders.
The next jump was by Frenchman Laurent Lefevre of BBOX Bouygues Telecom, and he was joined by Italian Alessandro Ballan of Lampre-NGC, and it was those two who held a lead of about 15 seconds until just before the finish.
Then it was the turn of the sprinters, and despite Cavendish getting the lead at a longer distance than is usually prudent in a bunch sprint, the Briton held on for his fifth stage win of the Tour. Hushovd had kicked even earlier and held on for second, maintaining his points lead in the sprinter competition meaning that he only has to finish somewhere in the top 20 in the final stage on the Champs-Élysées to wear green on the podium.
The race made no difference to the general classification, as expected, with Alberto Contador only having to defend his huge lead on Mont Ventoux tomorrow to seal his overall victory.
Top stage 19 results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia – HTC 3:50:35
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence – Lotto
5 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
6 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step
7 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Skil-Shimano
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux
10 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin – Slipstream
11 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel
12 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
13 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:04
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream
15 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
16 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
17 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia – HTC
18 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha
19 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
General classification
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 77:06:18
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4:11 behind
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 5:21
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 5:36
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 5:38
6 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 5:59
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 7:15
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 10:08
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 12:37
10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 12:38
11 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 13:36
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 14:08
13 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 14:37
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 15:27
15 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 17:23
16 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 19:47
17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence – Lotto 19:49
18 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Team Katusha 24:26
19 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 27:51
20 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia – HTC 28:20
Taken from:
Tour de France Stage 11 Results – Mark Cavendish Win Again
Mark Cavendish wins. Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.
The Tour de France Stage 11 had the same results as the Tour de France Stage 10 results in two ways. After the Tour de France Stage 11 results, the top three contenders in the Tour de France are still in the same place. In addition, the Tour de France Stage 11 results brought yet another win for Mark Cavendish. Although Mark Cavendish is nowhere near the overall leaders, the Tour de France Stage 11 results brought him his fourth stage win, and brought him the Tour de France green jersey as well.
The Tour de France Stage 11 was mainly decided on the final sprint of the stage, in which Mark Cavendish took over. Cavendish took command late to win his fourth Tour de France stage out of 11, stealing the headlines for the second day in a row.
