Despite a stiff headwind and mass confusion on the run into Bourdeaux, Mark Cavendish showed that he can win a sprint stage without HTC’s leadout, easily beating his rivals to the line in Stage 18 of the 2010 Tour de France.
“It was up me to kind of freestyle for the last kilometer,” Cavendish told LeTour.fr. “I was jumping from wheel to wheel; I was back to my old style of sprinting and it worked out, so it’s okay.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to even start the stage. I’ve been sick the last four days with bronchitis—actually, there are a lot of guys in the peloton with the same thing so I’m not only one.”
A four-rider breakaway escaped at the 11-km mark, and stayed two minutes ahead until 13 km from the end. Liquigas rider Daniel Oss, riding in his first Tour, made an heroic attack, staying away until 3.6 km, when the sprinters’ teams started seriously organizing.
“It was so nice to see the guys working so incredibly hard,” Cavendish continued. “I was sitting in 10th wheel and the guys were pulling and pulling and pulling. The guys in the escape were strong and also very clever. It was hard to bring back [Daniel] Oss—he did a brilliant ride at the finish—and we had to use Michael [Rogers] and Tony [Martin] to pull him back.”
Confusion ruled in the the final five hundred meters as Cervelo’s Brett Lancaster brought Thor Hushovd up the extreme right, with Mark Cavendish on his wheel, followed by Lampre’s Alessandro Petacchi and Garmin-transition’s Julian Dean.
Alessandro Petacchi took a ten–point lead in the Best Sprinter competition over Thor Hushovd. Cavendish is 13 points out. He might win the final sprint in Stage 20 on Sunday, but probably won’t close that gap; with Petacchi and Hushovd likely finishing Stage 20right beside him.
“I’ll never say never when it comes to the green jersey but I lost it in the first week, Cavendish said. “It hasn’t really been my aim.
“At the end of the day, I like to win bike races. I’ve always said, ‘If I win the green jersey by winning races, that’ll do.’ We’ll try and win again in Paris and see what happens.”
The General Classification was not affected by Stage 18’s results; Alberto Contador maintains his eight-second lead over Andy Schleck going into tomorrow’s Stage 19 time trial.
| 2010 Tour de France Stage 18 | |||
|
| Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | HTC-Columbia | 4:37:09 |
| 2 | Julian Dean | Garmin-Transitions | + 00:08 |
| 3 | Alessandro Petacchi | Lampre | + 02:00 |
| 4 | Robbie McEwen | Katusha | + 02:13 |
| 5 | Oscar Freire | Rabobank | + 03:39 |
| 6 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky | + 05:01 |
| 7 | Jurgen Roelandts | Omega Pharma-Lotto | + 05:25 |
| 8 | Jose Joaquin Rojas | Caisse d’Epargne | + 05:45 |
| 9 | Grega Bole | Lampre | + 07:12 |
| 10 | Ruben Perez | Euskatel Euskadi | + 07:51 |
,
| General Classification after Stage 18 | |||
|
| Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Astana | 83:32:39 |
| 2 | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | + 00:08 |
| 3 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskatel-Euskadi | + 03:32 |
| 4 | Denis Menchov | Rabobank | + 03:53 |
| 5 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck | Omega Pharma-Lotto | + 05:27 |
| 6 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank | + 06:41 |
| 7 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha | + 07:03 |
| 8 | Ryder Hesjedal | Garmin | + 09:18 |
| 9 | Roman Kreuziger | Liquigas | + 10:12 |
| 10 | Christopher Horner | Radio Shack | + 10:37 |
| 11 | Luis-Leon Sanchez | Caisse d’Epargne | + 12:46 |
| 12 | Ruben Plaza Molina | Caisse d’Epargne | + 13:01 |
| 13 | Levi Leiphemer | Radio Shack | + 14:24 |
| 14 | Andréas Klöden | Radio Shack | + 14:44 |
| 15 | Nicolas Roche | AG2R la Mondiale | + 16:00 |
| 16 | Alexandre Vinokourov | Astana | + 17:57 |
| 17 | John Gadret | AG2R la Mondiale | + 17:59 |
| 18 | Thomas Lovvkist | Sky | + 18:30 |
| 19 | Kevin de Weert | Quick Step | + 20:03 |
| 20 | Daniel Moreno | Omega Pharma-Lotto | + 25:23 |
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