Jarlinson Pantano produced an excellent quick finish to win an exhausting stage 15 of the Tour de France on Sunday (17 July).
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The 208.5km stage from Montelimar had finished with a three kilometre straight directly into a headwind which broke up the sprint trains, and Cavendish bided his time as he lurked behind the big frame of Kittel.
German Marcel Kittel finished fifth, protesting because he felt Cavendish had veered towards him during the sprint for the line.
Alexander Kristoff, a Norwegian with Katusha, crossed second, and world champion Peter Sagan was third.
Briton Chris Froome kept the yellow jersey after Stage 15, retaining the lead in the overall classification.
Last week he moved past Bernard Hinault in second on the all-time list of Tour stage winners and he is now four behind the record of five-time Tour victor Eddy Merckx. It was a stage that sprint ace Cavendish had targeted weeks ago and so the African Team’s plan was clear from early on in the stage.
But the powers that be gave Cavendish the benefit of the doubt – clearly seeing that the Dimension Data sprinter was the fastest of the pair and that Kittel had no real chance of making up the ground in the final 100 metres.
“I was very surprised my rivals didn’t make more attacks, today was a flawless opportunity to put us under pressure”, said Froome.
“I’ve been refreshed by riding on the track again but the key point is that I’m more patient than a year ago”, he said.
More than six minutes back, Fabio Aru and Team Astana agitated the peloton, laying a brisk pace just in front of the Sky train containing Froome. “I needed to break to avoid a collision”, added the German. “Tomorrow is another very important day; it will be a day of focus to not lose any time”.
Cavendish’s swerve on Kittel did at least inject a little bit of drama to an otherwise drab day.
The riders took their helmets off and stood still for a minute of silence at the start of the stage in honor of the victims of the terrorist attack in Nice, France, that killed 84 people and wounded more than 200 others.
Behind, the Tour favourites spent the day marking each other and there was no change to the overall positions, with Dutchman Bauke Mollema remaining second at 1:47 and young Briton Adam Yates third at 2:45.
Matti Breschel, a Danish rider with Cannondale, crashed midway through the stage, and was reported to have broken his collarbone.
“It is a tricky stage”, Froome said.
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Movistar’s Nairo Quintana, fourth in the general classification and two minutes 29 seconds behind Froome, is the man most likely to make a move for the yellow jersey, but he showed few signs of attacking in the Jura Mountains.
