He wanted a fair sprint and thats a gentleman thing to do, Cavendish said.
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Teklehaimanot made history yesterday when he became the first African rider to wear the polka dot jersey, after dominating the peaks. The Frenchman has 28, second only to Eddy Merckx’s record tally of 34.
“It’s a huge privilege to be back in the yellow jersey again”, said Froome after safely finishing the stage in the bunch.
Cavendish celebrated with pregnant wife Peta and three-year-old daughter Delilah.
“I’m very happy, I waited a week now for this win personally”.
Predictably, Cavendish dedicated his win – like a radio disc jockey playing syrupy love songs on a Sunday morning – to injured team-mate Tony Martin, who had crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone in Le Havre 24 hours earlier.
It was the Belgian squad’s third win of the Tour, after Martin’s triumph on stage four and Zdenek Stybar’s on stage six.
The main field were all brought back together in the final 10km with Team Katusha massing on the front of the peloton to set up the sprint for their Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff. What’s more, the mountains, where he has always shone, haven’t even started. I’ve known him for years, even if we don’t spend much time talking.
The stage is another one for sprinters. “It’s as simple as that”. “I thought I nearly could stay upright, but then I went into a rider of Giant-Alpecin and I had no balance anymore”, explained the three-time world timetrial champion.
Martin crashed on Thursday’s stage and had to quit the race despite being in the leader’s yellow jersey, before undergoing a successful operation in Hamburg yesterday. “But he told me that wearing the yellow jersey was his childhood dream and that his injury was not going to spoil his joy”.
Tomorrow’s 181.5km stage from Rennes to Mûr-de-Bretagne might present the Slovakian with the opportunity to end his frustration and claim a stage victory, as the incline to the finish is likely to prevent his sprint rivals from featuring at the finish. It is something which has galvanised him for a challenging first week which has its end in sight.
“I’ve said all year I’ve grown with this team, I’m really happy here”, Cavendish added.
Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) of Italy is 12th, 1:38 behind Froome, while Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lies 16th, 1:56 adrift of the leader.
Cavendish, meanwhile, was looking forward to speak to Martin on the telephone.
The mood at the team bus was nearly euphoric, a hat-trick of wins in this most mixed of Tours, and Cavendish was in euphoric form in his press conference.
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Besides journalists wanting to grab a word with the stage victor immediately afterwards and photographers wanting to grab a picture, there is a long list of post-race protocols to go through – TV interviews, anti-doping control, the podium presentation for the stage and, in Greipel’s case, the green jersey, plus the official press conference.
