Britain’s Mark Cavendish equalled Bernard Hinault as the second most prolific stage victor at the Tour de France after securing victory after a tightly fought sprint finish with Germany’s André Greipel.
Advertisement
Until the final kilometre, it looked as though Trek-Segafredo’s Jasper Stuyven would solo to victory, having attacked out of the break on the first of the three short, sharp climbs at the end of the 183km stage from Saint Lo to Cherbourg.
Greipel had raised his arm in celebration after crossing the line and Cavendish faced a nervous wait of several minutes before being confirmed as victor. I’m super-happy to have won though.
The 31-year-old said his winter move to Team Dimension Data – the African-based squad which supports the Qhubeka charity – has given him an entire new objective on a bike.
‘We want to ride with sprinters for the sprints, ‘ the 26-year-old Slovakian said. ‘I didn’t get him with the sprint, I got him with the lunge to the line so I was pretty fortunate with that’.
“I’ve won by more, I’ve won by less”, Cavendish said. “I thought I’d got it, but I wanted to wait until I knew for sure”. I was thinking in one moment that we would take a coffee, we had time.
Sagan finished fourth behind Cavendish, Greipel and Bryan Coquard to retain his place as general classification leader ahead of Julian Alaphilippe and Alejandro Valverde.
It was Cavendish’s 28th Tour stage victory, and second of this edition in three days, to equal the mark of French hero Bernard Hinault.
“I’ve always said that winning one stage on the Tour de France can define your whole career, so to win 28 is incredible”.
While he moves into yellow, Froome’s 10th place on the day leaves the Team Sky man in fifth place overall, 14 seconds off yellow.
Losers are taking unnecessary risks because they’re bitter towards the winners, sprint star Mark Cavendish has claimed.
In his press conference, Sagan called on the UCI to change the rules which now see general classification times neutralised if there is a crash inside the final three kilometres of a stage.
Fonseca spent 141km as the solo breakaway rider, but the Breton rider was then joined by fellow Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, with the duo boasting almost a six minute lead over the main field.
Advertisement
“He went slow, we went slow also in the group – it was nice”.
