Cavendish hasn’t been the celebrated sprinter of the Tour de France for a few years now but has started with vengeance this season.
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Cavendish also pointed to the chance to deliver victory for his South African-based team on Nelson Mandela day – as Cummings did a year ago on the Tour – when asked if he planned to continue.
And while many have suggested it has been track training ahead of next month’s Olympics that has been behind his return to form, Cavendish points out greater maturity as the main difference. “To be fair I feel exactly the same, it’s just that you need to be patient”, Cavendish said. “He kicked off a bit but I was way past him – I think he was just frustrated”.
It was Cavendish’s 30th career win in the Tour, putting him within four of Eddy Merckx’s record.
The long, straight finish at the bird sanctuary at Villars-les-Dombes seemed tailor-made for the big, powerful Kittel, a victor of four stages at both the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Tour.
Cavendish’s win was marked by a touch of controversy, as Marcel Kittel (Ettix-QuickStep) asserted that Cavendish had deviated from his line and impeded Kittel.
By that point, the race jury had already confirmed Cavendish as the victor, finding no fault in his manoeuvre in the finishing straight.
“That move definitely influenced the result of today”. [Fabio] Sabatini [Ettix-QuickStep] did more than I thought he would be able to do in a headwind there at the finish.
Kristoff had no complaints about the result.
“I started my sprint at 250 or 220 metres to go, at the bottom of the right-hand turn, and once I was in front, I saw Cavendish coming by and as soon as he passed me he went to the right, I had to brake to avoid a crash and that was it”, Kittel said as he soft-pedalled on his turbo-trainer.
Kittel was beaten into second by Cavendish on the opening and sixth stages but he did edge Frenchman Bryan Coquard in a photo-finish on stage four. “Cavendish is just faster right now”.
It was the sixth stage win for a British rider in this year’s Tour as Cavendish’s team-mate Steve Cummings won stage seven and Team Sky’s Chris Froome – who finished safely in the pack to retain the yellow jersey – took stage eight.
Dutchman Bauke Mollema remains second at 1min 47sec with another Brit, Adam Yates, third at 2:45.
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Kittel was the dominant sprinter in 2013 and 2014, winning four stages at the Tour in both editions.
