Team Columbia again organized their unstoppable lead-out train, delivering Cavendish into range with every advantage, while behind him, the various sprinters’ teams tried different tactics, looking for any way to neutralize the Manx Missile.
The General Classification remained unchanged, with Rinaldo Nocentini in yellow, followed by Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong.
A Stage for Power Sprinters
Another rolling, hilly stage with a flat finish, Stage Eleven (Vatan to Saint-Fargeau—192 km) contained two Category Four climbs, but nothing to significantly slow or split the peloton. The final five kilometers slope downhill until the end, when the road rises 30 meters through last kilometer, making for a great sprint possibility for the power sprinters, like Thor Hushovd and Oscar Freire.
With the race radios back in action, it seemed unlikely any breakaway would be allowed to succeed. The big sprint teams had only this stage and Stage Twelve to use their skills; then it is off the Alps for a grueling week of climbing.
In an odd turn of events, the Tour officials announced that the GC announced after Stage Ten was incorrect. Apparently a tiny split in the peloton (one bike length) caused the timekeepers to rule that the second big bunch were fifteen seconds behind the peloton leaders; if the peloton stays together, every rider gets the same time as the leader, but if it breaks, and rider fifteen seconds behind the leader gets a slower time. The rule was instituted because, if every rider got a separate time, all the riders were try to get an inch ahead of everyone else, and the chaos would be very dangerous.
In review, the race directors decided that the gap was not significant.
Lance Armstrong took time to discuss his reaction to the media attention he has been getting this year.
“I try to be relaxed about it. I think it’s good for the event; I think it’s good for the sport. It’s good there’s interest from not just France, and not just Western Europe, but Australia, Asia. I try to come out and do a little of that. I don’t want to do that much media, but I give a little bit, and I hope it helps carry the event a little bit.
“[In that last week] there’s going to be a lot of drama.”
Peloton Really Racing
The peloton started out fast and kept a high pace all day; no protest on this stage. The peloton averaged nearly 50 kph (30 mph) for most of the race, turning it up to 55 kph through the final 20 km.
Garmin-Slipstream lead rider Christian Vande Velde had a very rough day. “I crashed really hard, so I’m a little banged up. Supposedly one of the Highroad guys locked it up [hit his brakes so hard he skidded] and then [Lampre rider Angelo] Furlan crashed and then I ran right into him. And George [Hincapie] bunny-hopped my bike somehow—he’s like a cat. Luckily the peloton had stopped, so I got to change bikes. Ten K after we resumed, we all crashed again, and I was like, ‘I’ve had it.’ Anyway, life goes on.”
He said his injuries would not stop him from finishing the Tour. “I’m not out, that’s for sure. I was okay to stay at the front. My team guided me through the stage, so I didn’t have to do anything. But it’s rough. You never want to hit the ground.”
There were many unsuccessful attacks in the first twenty kilometers, but the first attack to stay away was launched at the 24 km mark, by Johann Van Summeren of Silence-Lotto and Marcin Sapa of Lampre.
The peloton kept the gap around three minutes for most of the stage, calculating how long it would take to catch up the attack in time to set up their sprint finish.
Coming up on the last categorized climb, the peloton picked up its pace.. With 45 km to go and most of it downhill, the sprint teams needed to reel in the attackers before the attackers stole the finish.
Team Columbia, Garmin, and Cervelo moved to the head of the peloton, determined to get their riders into position.
Rabobbank, Columbia, Cervelo, Liquigas, Milram, and Garmin were all determined to beat Cavendish, hoping the terrain would be their ally.
Stopping the Unstoppable Force
Garmin racing director Jonathan Vaughters addressed the difficulty of getting his sprinter, Tyler Farrar, into a position to beat Columbia’s super-sprinter, Mark Cavendish.
“We’ve been experimenting with different ways to do the lead-out, how to position him. We’re getting better and better, getting him in that right position. It’s just that Cavendish is an incredible force.
“If you look at it from a bit physiological standpoint, I think our only chance is to get Cavendish out into the wind a little earlier than he has been, and that’s going to require a little bit of effort on our part and a little bit of a mistake on Columbia’s part. We just need to keep executing perfectly and hope that Columbia messes up just a little bit one of these days.”
Vaughters acknowldedged that a lot of Cavendish’s success came from the perfect precision of Columbia’s lead-out, often comprising four or five riders. He said Garmin didn’t plan to try to meet Columbia force-against-force.
“We’ve been giving a lot of resources [to the sprint.] I think Tyler has been perfectly positioned in the last couple of sprints—his teammates are doing an incredible job. We just aren’t taking the tactic of initiating the lead-out because we tried that in the Giro [d’Italia] and it didn’t necessarily work out so great. It was almost like we were leading out the Columbia guys. We’re trying to take a different approach.
“It’s complicated. In the end Tyler’s been positioned very well by Julian [Dean] and his teammates have done a great job. It’s just that Cavendish has just been incredible in the last couple of sprints.”
The Columbia Express
With five km to go, the peloton caught up the attackers.
With four km to go, Columbia took control. Racing at 70 kph, Columbia’s organization seemed unstoppable, with an unbroken line of seven riders up the left side of the road, while the other teams were still in bunches, fighting for position.
Suddenly2 km out, Milram made its move, getting three riders the middle of Columbia’s train and moving to the front.
A kilometer out, Milram rider Gerald Ciolek made his bid, but he just became a part of the Columbia lead-out train. Tony Martin made a huge pull, dropping Ciolek. Only the three Columbia riders, with Hushovd, then Farrar, were left in the sprint.
Hushovd didn’t have the legs, and fell back, leaving Cavendish and Farrrar riding shoulder to shoulder. Farrar gave his all, but Cavendish had a second kick and crossed the line half a bike-length ahead.
Mark Cavendish won the Stage, a record-tying eighth stage win for an English rider, and his fourth stage win of the 2009 tour.
‘We’ll just keep trying until we get it’
After the race Garmin-Slipstream riders Tyler Farrar and Julian Dean described trying to beat Columbia and Mark Cavendish in a sprint.
"Today was great, it was really fast. From two K to five hundred [meters] it was downhill; we were going like 72 K per hour or something” explained Tyler Farrar. “Dave and Julian [David Millar and Julian Dean, his lead-out riders] were incredible. They brought me up the side so fast. I had a good run on it, but he just outkicked me in the last fifty meters. It’s frustrating to be second all the time, but there’re only a few guys who are going that fast right now.”
“Today we took a little bit of different approach; I decided to wait back a bit,” said Julian Dean. “Dave [Millar] took me into 500 [meters] to go. I came off Dave’s wheel with a heap of speed and a heap of momentum; I was going well faster than Columbia and then just as I was coming over the top of them George [Hincapie] pulled off and [Mark] Renshaw moved across on me and disrupted my momentum. I had to back off a little bit. But I really feel like, if they hadn’t had done that, I would have come over the top of them and set Tyler up for what I think would have been a win. We almost won as it was. We’ve got the power; it’s just getting a clean run around the Columbia train.
"We’ll just keep trying until we get it.”
More Hills, More Sprints?
Stage Twelve, 211 kilometers from Tonnerre to Vittel, is another sprinters’ stage, though it is considerably more hilly, with five Cat. Four climbs and a final Cat. Three, forty kilometers out, that might serve as a launching point for a late attack.
The final kilometer is again uphill, though half as steep as today’s. Possibly the climbs will be enough to weaken Mark Cavendish, giving an edge to some of the power sprinters. But after today’s performance, one has to wonder if anything can stop Team Columbia in a sprint. Unless a late-stage breakaway somehow succeeds, the smart money is on Mark Cavendish yet again.
| Stage Eleven Results | ||||
| Rider | Team | |||
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Team Columbia | ||
| 2 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin Slipstream | ||
| 3 | Yauheni Hutarovich | Française des Jeux | ||
| 4 | Oscar Freire | Rabobank | ||
| 5 | Thor Hushovd | Cervelo | ||
