THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Columbia's Cavendish takes his fourth Tour stage win
Team Columbia's Mark Cavendish won his fourth stage of this year's Tour de France, sprinting into Nimes ahead of Silence Lotto's Robbie McEwen.
McEwen took a brief respite from protecting team leader Cadel Evans' overall lead to contest the sprint, but was little match for Cavendish's finishing kick.
Evans, meanwhile, finished with the leaders to preserve his one-second overall lead over CSC's Frank Schleck.
Cavendish said his velodrome-honed kick saved the day.
"There was some headwind in the end, but with 150 meters I made my move — it might have been a little early, but I was able to hang on for the win ... The track helped me a little to develop my kick. For sprinting, you have to have a kick, that's the advantage I have over my rivals and the track helped me get that."
McEwen had so far had few chances to unleash his trademark sprint for the line, but once he did the 34-year-old came up against a rider he has described as "just too strong."
"I did two sprints, the first one was 500 meters with my nose in the wind to try and get a good position, then a second one just before the line. But Cavendish is simply too strong and too fast," said McEwen.
"This was the first time that I've really had a chance to do my sprint, and so it's a relief. I'm glad I was able to sprint, finally. But in the end I was beaten fair and square."
Evans called it "an optimum day."
"It was a little dangerous there in the final kilometers with the sprint, but my team kept me out of trouble ... now we're waiting for the mountains. I know that attacks are going to come from CSC, Menchov, but I have the final time trial for me — I hope to hope to have as much time as possible, it's going to be a lot of pressure."
The route
Though labeled a "flat" stage, the 182km romp from Narbonne to Nimes looped through the foothills of the Massif Central with three Cat. 4 climbs. As on the Thursday's stage, the final 25km was on wider roads, heading to a 1.1km-long finish straight on the Avenue Jean Jaures in downtown Nimes.
The early break
Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Florent Brard (Cofidis) bounded away while the peloton was still shaking the sleep from its eyes: in the fourth kilometer of the race. The two spun along together, building up a maximum lead of about ten minutes before Columbia went to the front and began to reel their lead back to a more manageable margin.
The pair enjoyed a two-minute lead with about 40k to go, after Francaise des Jeux joined Columbia to up the pace in the pack.
Meanwhile back in the peloton, the race for the green jersey continued. While Terpstra and Brard were uninterested in the points, sprints leader Oscar Freire dispatched teammate Juan Antonio Flecha to grab the third-place points at the Saint-Bauzille-de-Montmel line.
At the second sprint of the day, in Villeveillle less than 30k from the finish, things got interesting.
Sensing the pack closing to within a minute — and perhaps getting word that Brard's Cofidis teammate Stephan Auge was trying to bridge — Terpstra attacked his companion. He opened up a one-minute lead over Terpstra and Bard, who dangled ahead of the peloton for a few ks before being sucked back into the fold.
The catch — and the bullet trains start rolling
Terpstra was caught with less than 10k to go, opening the door to the final run-in to Nimes. Gerolsteiner's Sven Krauss celebrated the catch by slamming a road sign and snapping his Specialized in half, but he appeared to come through the crash with little injury.
The first attack came from Cofidis' Sylvain Chavanel, who snuck off with 7.5km to go and entered the last 5k with a 10-second gap on the field that was champing at the bit for another field sprint, with Columbia and Gerolsteiner leading the charge.
Chavanel managed to stay away for more than 4k, but was caught just inside the 3k to go sign. That's when Columbia, Milram, Quick Step and Gerolsteiner began the battle to put their sprinters at the front.
Cavendish once again was positioned well by his teammates coming into the last 500 meters, then appeared stuck in traffic with 300 meters to go, allowing McEwen to get the jump.
But Cavendish surfed the wheels in the final meters and had time to unleash his final kick with 150 meters to go, blowing past McEwen for the fourth Tour win of his young career.
Agritubel's Romain Feillu held on for third place.
