CYCLING:MARK CAVENDISH is never one to enjoy coming second in a head-to-head battle with another specialist sprinter, but yesterday's last-gasp defeat at the hands of his former team-mate, Andre Greipel, will be particularly hard to take.
With 150 metres to go in the main street of a small former coalmining town in the Tarn, the Manxman experienced the unwelcome sensation of being overhauled by a man to whom he had never previously given best.
For Greipel, making his Tour debut in the month of his 29th birthday, this was a resounding first stage win. Cavendish’s consolation came with a haul of points that puts him closer to the two riders ahead of him in the competition for the green jersey, Philippe Gilbert and Jose Joaquin Rojas.
The rivalry between Cavendish and Greipel began when they both joined T-Mobile in 2006 and continued through the team’s various incarnations as Highroad, Columbia and HTC. Conflict flared during their second year, when Cavendish was expected to lead out the German rider, who is almost three years older, in a sprint during the Etoile de Besseges stage race, but kept going to finish second, with Greipel nowhere.
A series of spats ensued over the years, with Greipel describing Cavendish as “selfish” on more than one occasion. “Me on bad form is still better than Greipel,” the Manxman retorted. At the end of last season, fed up with being overlooked, Greipel left to join Omega Pharma-Lotto. Born in Rostock, like the 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich, Greipel had never before selected to ride in the Tour, and last Friday in Chateauroux he and Cavendish took each other’s direct measure in a finish for the first time in their careers.
After Greipel had come off second best, the winner made a remark about not having needed to use all his available power. According to the German, they made it up afterwards.
“We had a chat after the stage and he said he had a big respect for my sprint,” Greipel said. “I couldn’t hold him in Chateauroux but I tried to surprise him today. On Friday I didn’t have the legs in the last 50m but here I managed to get on his wheel. I have a lot of respect for Cav. He’s won 17 stages. Now I’ve got one.”
Cavendish had hit the front with one big bend to go. “It was a flat finish so I tried to go at 250m off Rojas’s wheel,” he said. “I didn’t hesitate but I didn’t commit early enough. I kind of rolled round Rojas on the last corner and kicked with 170m to go and Greipel just came past and beat me. I’m happy for him. I feel I made a mistake but Greipel beat me so there’s nothing I can say about that.”
After an unusually welcome day of rest following the string of lurid accidents that punctuated the Tour’s first nine stages, the quick and the half-dead got back to business yesterday with a short (158km), lumpy stage beginning in Aurillac.
An early crash involved Robert Gesink, Fabian Cancellara, and the perennially accident-prone Levi Leipheimer, but without serious consequences.
Johnny Hoogerland reported for further duty, having wept on the podium on Sunday night when receiving the polka-dot jersey after the dreadful accident in which he was pitched into a barbed-wire fence. As if that were not enough of an ordeal, the poor chap was woken at 7am yesterday by the dope testers.
The day brought no change in the standings for the various jerseys, meaning Thomas Voeckler was able to start and finish the day in the maillot jaune gained as a result of his second place in Saint-Flour on Sunday.
Voeckler has a pleasingly aggressive attitude to conserving the overall leadership. After Marco Marcato, the last survivor of a long six-man break, had been caught with 16km of yesterday’s stage to go, the Frenchman was among those mounting a series of solo attacks, along with Philippe Gilbert and David Millar, before the sprinters had the final say.
Voeckler will be hoping, after today’s flattish 167km stage from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur, to celebrate Bastille Day in yellow once again.
Guardian Service
