Mark Cavendish wins stage 11 of Tour de France 2010 (photo: Reuters)
Another victorious stage for Cavendish and it wasn’t even close. In a post-race interview, Cavendish remarked: “It was really more like a breakaway than a sprint, at least for me.” Cavendish has won 3 stages in this year’s Tour de France, making it his 13th Tour de France win (beating the record of Erik Zabel, his coach at HTC Columbia). Andy Schleck keeps the maillot jaune. Alessandro Petacchi surprisingly takes the green jersey (from Thor Hushovd).
UPDATE: Oh no, Mark Renshaw, who has been crucial in protecting Cavendish and getting him in the right spot to finish first, has been kicked out of the Tour for head-butting Julian Dean in the final seconds of the race, so as not to allow Dean to get his teammate, Tyler Farrar, in position. This is a very unfair decision, in my view, absolutely excessive. Remember only a few days ago, two riders – Barredo and Costa – were beating up one another after the race. They got away with fines.
Notes about this stage from Sisteron to Bourg-Les-Valence: The scenery changes from Alpine to Mediterranean, from lush steep mountainsides to dry, shrubby plains and valleys, with craggy hillsides topped by ruins of fortified batiments and towers. The peloton rode past endless fields of lavender and sunflowers. The area is north of Avignon and the Luberon.
