Stage 11 - Cavendish Procession Continues In Saint Fargeau

Stage 11 was a stage of deja-vu, both back to the race so far and all the way back to the 2008 Tour. At the end of a 192km ride from Vatan to Saint Fargeau, it was once again none other than Mark Cavendish who took the honours to win his 4th stage of this years Tour. This adds to his 4 wins at last years edition, where he was pulled out before the Alps. This year Cavendish will ride all the way to Paris and a 5th and 6th victory are definitely on the cards.

In taking the day, Cavendish tied a British record for career stage wins at the Tour with 8. He also earned himself another prize by re-taking the lead in the points competition. He now holds the green jersey by 7 points from his Norwegian rival Thor Hushovd who could only manage 5th on the stage. Still, there was a sense of deja-vu on the podium, with Tyler Farrar again finishing the bridesmaid. This time second. Had Cavendish not showed up Farrar would be the revelation of this years event and may have multiple stage wins to his name. Belorussian national champion Yauheni Hutarovich put in his best performance at this years Tour to finish 3rd on the day.

In terms of the GC there was no real shake up with the peleton finishing together apart from the usual stragglers, none of which were big names, although yellow jersey holder Rivaldo Noncentini did hit the deck a couple of times in minor crashes. The 15 second split in the peleton originally awarded at the end of yesterdays stage was reviewed by officials and reversed. This saw Levi Leipheimer and Bradley Wiggins returned to their 4th and 5th positions in the overall classification respectively. As expected, Saxo's stocks were dented when Norwegian national champion Kurt Asle-Arvesen failed to take the start line after suffering a broken collarbone in a crash yesterday.

So the points competition now looks a race in two between Cavendish (4/5 fav) and Hushovd (11/8). I think if Cavendish can build up a buffer of 20 points or so before we hit the Alps he should be safe. But anything less than that and Hushovd could be a chance of stealing the jersey with a similar breakaway sojourn to that he produced in the Pyrenees.

Yellow Jersey - Rinaldo Nocentini
Green Jersey - Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey - Egoi Martinez
White Jersey - Tony Martin

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