Riders with Britain’s Mark Cavendish, second left, and Germany’s Marcel Kittel, left, sprint to the finish line of the fourteenth stage of the Tour de France Saturday.
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Saturday’s 208.5km trek from Montelimar to the Parc des Oiseaux at Villars-les-Dombes provided little entertainment up until the final kilometres, as the main contenders for general classification glory made relatively stress-free progress within the peloton.
Mark Cavendish said he was unaware of any protestations from Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quick Step) on the Tour de France stage 14 sprint finish, saying he thought the German was simply congratulating him when he hit him on the back.
A four-man breakaway was gradually swallowed up before the sprint specialists took centre stage and it was Dimension Data rider Cavendish who again proved the class of the field, the Briton claiming his fourth stage win of this year’s Tour and 30th overall. “To be fair I feel exactly the same, it’s just that you need to be patient”, said Cavendish who followed Kittel’s wheel before making his move, powering away to victory.
“I jumped around him and obviously it bent over to the right and he’s kicked off a little bit, but I was way past him by then”.
There has been speculation throughout the Tour that the Manxman would at some point withdraw to focus on preparations for racing on the track at the Rio Olympics, but with his form so strong he will also have an eye on a fifth career victory on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
“I’ve been a lot more patient than I was a year ago”, Cavendish said.
The race commissaires did analyse the pictures immediately after the race, but the result stood and gave Dimension Data their fifth win in a sensational Tour for the South African team. “Monday in Berne is not an easy sprint but it’s a sprint and it’s Nelson Mandela day so it’s a big thing for the team”.
“There’s two more sprint opportunities, I think”, he said. “I’ve said I’m not going to put myself over the edge so if I get sick or fall off I won’t, but I’m in good shape, the team’s in good morale so I’ll carry on as long as I can”.
The riders observed a minute’s silence at the start with Sagan, Froome and French champion Arthur Vichot in the front of the peloton in memory of the 84 victims of the Nice attack just eight months after gunmen killed 130 people in Paris. “With the block headwind, there was a lot of shelter on the wheels and it was very welcome ahead of what’s to come”.
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Froome remained 1:47 ahead of second-place Bauke Mollema and 2:45 in front of third-place Adam Yates in the overall standings.
