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STAGE 10: LIMOGES - ISSOUDUN, 194.5 KM: TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 10: CAV MAKES IT THREE
By Chris Henry in Issoudun
July 14, 2009
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Cavendish was simply too strong for green jersey Thor Hushovd
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
French riders have won as many stages in the first week of this year's Tour than in any recent Tour overall, but today was not to be their day as Mark Cavendish roared back into the limelight with a sprint sprint victory in Issoudun. Cavendish held off green jersey Thor Hushovd and young American Tyler Farrar to take his third victory of the Tour, quickly approaching his four-peat of 2008. The Tour's overall leader, Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) enjoyed a quiet day in yellow and looks set to hold his jersey for the coming days.
"I had guys guiding me through the Pyrénées, helping me conserve as much energy as possible, and that was for one reason and one reason only: to win more stages in the second week," Cavendish said after celebrating his latest victory. "We weren't going to let that opportunity slip away."
Radio-Free Tour
Tension mounted before the race began in Limoges after the Tour's first rest day as the peloton prepared to return to the days of old and race without radios for the first of two experimental stages. A majority- but not all- of teams signed a petition and made their displeasure known regarding the ban, but by the time the Tour got rolling Tuesday morning the only protests were individual and more comical than serious.
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 No orders from the team car but Grischa Niermann might get a few new channels
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(Photo: Chris Henry)
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Indeed, those who did not object to the ban in the first place were left nonplussed by the polemics.
"I'm not in favor of the radios; I don't think they're necessary," said Benoît Vaugrenard, who helped instigate the day's breakaway. "All you need to do is read the race book, study the parcours, and ride intelligently."
"The big teams want the radios for their leaders, but they just need to do what we do and look at the race books," he added. "If guys aren't able to race without radios, they don't know how to read the race book."
On the other hand, the Tour's overall leader, Rinaldo Nocentini, did not face any challenges today yet he still expressed his dissatisfaction with the radio ban.
"I don't think it was a good thing," he said. "The roads were often dangerous and for us it's important to know what's coming up and what the finish will be like."
Bastille Day: France Gives it a Go
With national glory on the line, nobody was surprised to see a break of four established with three Frenchmen leading the charge. Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), and Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano) went on the attack, taking with them the crafty Russian, Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha). With or without radios, their move would be a tough one to make stuck, as a long, predominantly flat parcours heavily favored the sprinters' teams for the finale.
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Vaugrenard, Hupond, Dumoulin and Ignatiev had little chance to stay away
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(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
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Both the break and the peloton appeared to riding at a modest pace throughout the day as the AG2R team of Nocentini was content to let the break take the attention from their leader. Meanwhile, the teams of star sprinters Cavendish, Hushovd, Boonen, and Farrar kept watch on the move and never let the gap extend beyond four minutes. For all of the complaints about the lack of radios, the terrain simply did not offer any chances for drama in the peloton.
With 20km to race, the riders up front and the chasing field ramped up their tempos accordingly, setting the stage for a classic timed capture in the closing moments of the stage. The three Frenchmen in the breakaway collaborated well but their lead was a slender 35 seconds by the time they passed under the 10km banner. Five kilometers later it was cut in half again.
Ignatiev, under orders not to ride throughout much of the day, surprised no one when launched the first attack to break up the grou with just 3km to go. The others were on his wheel straight away with the main field closing in quickly. Hupond tried his luck with just 1.4km remaining, but his last ditch effort ended as quickly as it started as a regrouped field prepared to launch the sprinters into Issoudun's town center.
Columbia on Track Again
The Columbia-HTC team was back to doing what it does so well, sending eight men to the front to guide Cavendish into position in the closing meters. First George Hincapie, then Tony Martin, then Mark Renshaw forced a pace so high that no sprinters could contemplate jumping young 'Cav'. Sensing his moment, Cavendish jumped earlier than usual but still kept Hushovd completely at bay as he made his third Tour stage win look almost as a formality.
"Sometimes it's easy to leave it too late and somebody gets a jump on you like Petacchi did in the Giro," Cavendish explained. "I was waiting for Thor to jump but if I'd have waited any longer and he did jump maybe I wouldn't have been able to get him back. It's better to hit out, and I did that today, but I was put in a perfect position to do it."
"For me, Mark Renshaw is the rider of the day, with the incline and the corners..." Renshaw added, always quick to credit his team with his success. "To hold that power takes a lot of guts."
Hushovd held on to his green points jersey, but he acknowledged without regret that Cavendish was simply too strong.
"Cavendish is going really fast and he also has a strong team that can set him up perfectly," the big Norwegian commented. "I lost four or five meters in the second to last turn and it took a big effort to try to catch up. It was impossible to accelerate any more."
Stage 10: July 14, Limoges to Issoudun 194.5km
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR/Columbia-HTC) 4hr 46min 43sec (40.702 km/h)
2. Thor Hushovd (NOR/Cervélo TestTeam) @ s.t.
3. Tyler Farrar (USA/Garmin-Slipstream)
4. Fabio-Leonardo Duque (COL/Cofidis)
5. José Joaquin Rojas (ESP/Caisse d'Epargne)
6. Lloyd Mondory (FRA/AG2R La Mondiale)
7. Kenny van Hummel (NED/Skil-Shimano)
8. William Bonnet (FRA/Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
9. Daniele Bennati (ITA/Liquigas)
10. Saïd Haddou (FRA/Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
Overall Classification After Stage 10
1. Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA/AG2R La Mondiale) 39h 11min 04sec
2. Alberto Contador (ESP/Astana) @ 0:06
3. Lance Armstrong (USA/Astana) @ 0:08
4. Andreas Kloden (GER/Astana) @ 0:54
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA/Astana) @ 0:54
6. Tony Martin (GER/Columbia-HTC) @ 1:00
7. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/Garmin-Slipstream) @ 1:01
8. Christian Vande Velde (USA/Garmin-Slipstream) @ 1:24
9. Andy Schleck (LUX/Saxo Bank) @ 1:49
10. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/Liquigas) @ 1:54
Other Classifications
Green Jersey: Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam)
Polka Dot Jersey: Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
White Jersey: Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC)
Teams: AG2R La Mondiale
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