Cycling away at the Tour de France, 26-year-old Mark Cavendish won the stage 11, making this his 18th win, and 3rd this year on Wednesday.
Mark Cavendish pedals past finish line; wins Stage 11
The Briton’s close rival was Germany’s Andre Greipel; who was once his teammate but now his closest rival. Cavendish’s partner was Mark Renshaw. He won by a marginal length ahead of Greipel. The bikers came a distance from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur, covering a distance of 104 miles. Greipel had defeated Cavendish in Tuesday’s race, stage 10, and this was the revenge that the British wanted to take. He said that the defeat made him wanted to win the stage 11 even more.
“I have to thank my team-mates for the work they did today, even the guys who are in the top ten overall gave it one hundred per cent and that shows what a great team we are.” Earlier he said that all he told his teammates was that he wanted to win. Just win. And that is exactly what came to be.
A burst of rain during the race made it harder for Cavendish to keep pedaling as his foot came in contact with the French rider, Romain Feillu. The buckle of his shoe opened but he bent down and strapped it back, just 600 meters before the finish line. Cavendish had earlier complained about Feillu’s rash behavior, beginning of the week.
Mark Cavendish now holds the green jersey, earlier belonging to Philippe Gilbert of Belgium. ‘It’s incredible to have the green jersey, it’s the most beautiful jersey in the world”, Cavendish said ecstatically. He had always said that his goal is to someday win the green jersey and as the point-system of this year’s race had changed, Cavendish gained more number of points and was finally in possession of the green jersey.
Today Alberto Contador, who has been the champion of Tour De France, along with other contenders, will be riding in the Pyrenes Mountains, testing their fitness and stamina. It will be a combat for the yellow jersey and the main competitors will be Contador, Schleck and Evans. At the moment it is Voeckler who has the possession of the yellow jersey but there is no confident assurance that he will keep the jersey after the race as he said “If we lose the yellow jersey tomorrow then we’ll do so knowing that we gave it everything. But to be honest, I fully expect to lose it tomorrow,” on Wednesday.
Tags: Andre Greipel, Cycling, Mark Cavendish, Tour de France
