Tour de France 2011 Stage 15: Mark Cavendish Wins To Extend Lead

An impeccable ride from the HTC-Highroad team was finished off by Mark Cavendish, who stormed over the line in Montpellier to take his 19th career win on the tour.

The day started with a predictable breakaway of five riders, including tour debutant and now three-time escapee Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun) and former stage winner Samuel Dumoulin. Dumoulin (Cofidis) attacked very early in the day, and although he stayed in front for a long period, he never really looked to be producing a stage win. 

The attendance of Mickael Delage of FDJ meant the French team maintained their record of having a rider present in every breakaway of the tour so far, with the team taking the combativity award for "Fighting Spirit" on five of the 14 occasions it has been awarded this year—something that has seen the relatively unknown team become one of the more popular teams in this year's tour. 

The main focus of the day, though, was on the sprinters, especially as peloton never let the breakaway group build a meaningful lead, with the gap only briefly reaching four minutes before the HTC team of Mark Cavendish formed a nine-man train that controlled the pace of the peloton for most of the day. 

Allan Peiper, directeur sportif of the HTC-Highroad team, speaking to letour.fr during the stage, claimed that having all of his riders at the front was simply the best way to keep his team safe in strong winds. He then commented, with a hint of satire, that it was a “chance to make the others a little bit nervous.”

But with today being the last viable day for green jersey-holder Cavendish to claim points in the sprint classification before Paris, it was the HTC team who were likely to be feeling the nerves, knowing that a slip up today could leave the door well and truly wide open for Phillipe Gilbert (Omega Pharmo-Lotto) to steal the green jersey in the mountain stages. 

The positioning of today’s intermediate sprint also added to the nerves, being under 50 km from the finish.

Although the gap had been closed to around a minute, HTC seemed happy to allow the breakaway riders to take the top five spots, leaving Cavendish and rivals Gilbert and Rojas (Movistar) to battle it out for the remaining points on offer. 

And it was indeed the three contenders for green who crossed the line ahead of the peloton, with Cavendish gaining one and two points on Rojas and Gilbert respectively as the three men sprinted to the line as if it were for a stage win. 

Changes to the regulations surrounding intermediate sprints have been a major success this year, with the introduction of a single intermediate with more points meaning that even after a leading group has taken the first few places there are still valuable points available for the sprinters. 

This has added extra excitement to the day’s racing, with today being a great example of that as the top three men in the points classification gave their all to take sixth place in the sprint despite its proximity to the finish line.

With a complex and very technical run to the finish, anything was possible. And with Cavendish taking a tumble in the mountains yesterday before a major struggle to finish only two minutes before the cut-off time (which Frenchman William Bonnet of FDJ missed), many of the sprinters in the pack will have fancied their chances of taking a stage win from the favoured Cavendish. 

With 15 km to the finish, the French contingent of the breakaway were eventually caught leaving Dutchman Niki Terpstra (Quick Step) and Russian Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), both time-trial specialists, 30 seconds ahead with 10 km to go. 

Their efforts were in vain as Garmin briefly joined HTC at the front of the peloton through the dangerous swerves and roundabouts on the outskirts of Montpellier, catching Ignatiev first before a brave solo effort from Terpstra (which earned him the combativity award for today) ended with three km left to go. 

Just as Ignatiev was caught, Phillipe Gilbert launched a solo attack in an effort to disrupt the HTC train. For a few seconds it seemed that the nerves may have gotten the better of the HTC team as Lampre and Team Sky both made brief moves as Gilbert was caught and passed. 

But HTC regained their composure and prime position, allowing Mark Renshaw to launch Mark Cavendish into the final sprint for the line. Once at the front, the victory never looked in doubt for the Briton, who powered to his 19th career win and fourth of the 2011 Tour de France.

American sprinter Tyler Farrar (Garmin) finished a wheel behind Cav in second place, with Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) coming in third. Young debutant Ben Swift of Team Sky came in sixth place to mark his highest finish yet. 

Cavendish has now won four or more stages in four consecutive tours and extended his lead in the points classification to 37 points over second place Jose Joaquin Rojas, who finished in fifth place. Phillipe Gilbert did not score at the finish, leaving him 71 points behind Cavendish. 

After suffering three days in the mountains, the contenders for the yellow jersey took advantage of the flat stage and kept themselves out of trouble, finishing together in the main pack. As a result, there is no change in the standings and Thomas Voeckler retained the yellow jersey yet again. 

When asked about his chances of winning the tour, Voeckler was quick to dismiss himself in a post race interview with ITV, claiming he had no chance to hold on to the jersey through the Alps and winning in Paris. Seven-time winner Lance Armstrong disagrees, letting the world know on Twitter that he feels Voeckler can indeed go on to win.

The race for the yellow jersey may still be wide open, but Cavendish is closing in on the green. Speaking after the stage to British television, the fastest man on the tour claimed his main motivation was not personal glory, but fear of letting down his teammates, who he described as "machines" who ride selflessly all day to set up potential victory. 

Heading into the second rest day of the tour, surely the only thing that can prevent Cavendish from becoming the first Briton to win the green jersey in Paris is the dreaded cut-off time in the Alps. If the Manxman can get over the mountains within the cut-off time, he will surely be a favourite to finish ahead of Gilbert and Rojas on the Champs Elysees.