2010 Tour de France - Stage 5 News and Notes | Real-Time Rants

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| 02:39 PM ET 07.08 |

97th Tour de France

Stage 5 - Epernay to Montargis - 187.5 km (116.3 mi)

08 July 2010

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The big question in the few sprints contested so far at this year's Tour de France had been, "What ever happened to the Mark Cavendish who was sweeping a half-dozen stages before withdrawing ahead of the mountains last year?" The heir apparent to the dominance of sprinters like Mario Cipollini, unwinding his finishing kick behind a fearsome train of equally-potent speedsters in the Columbia train just as the Lion King used to during the mid-nineties on the backs of the wheels of his Saeco train, Cavendish had been noticably absent from contention as Alessandro Petacchi swept both of the first two sprint finishes on Stage 1 and Stage 4.

There were no shortage of guesses as to why the young Manxman was regressing from last year's performance. Maybe skipping the Giro d'Italia for the Tour of California, moved up the UCI calendar from February to May in direct competition with the first grand tour of the season, was a bad course of preparation for Cavendish? Perhaps his sloppy riding at the Tour de Suisse, which resulted in a Stage 4 crash that brought down pretty much all of the top sprinters, had betrayed his nerves in the heat of the finishing stretch? Was it just an off year for the kid -- or even reality setting in after what might just prove to be an overachieving two-year stretch in 2008 and 2009 that saw him win ten Tour and five Giro stages?

But perhaps the best guess of all was simply that things hadn't worked out for him. Sprinting is never a guarantee; if you get boxed in during a sprint, you simply cannot unleash the top gear in your pedals. And Cavendish, unfortunately for him, simply hadn't been able to get in a good position with Renshaw. They were reduced to just Renshaw when Cavendish crashed (along with Jeremy Hunt and Oscar Freire) on the Stage 1 run into Brussels. And on Stage 4 yesterday, the Columbia train looked like it was in the prime position to sweep up the spoils... until Alessandro Petacchi, resplendent this year and looking as strong as his prime earlier in the decade, caught them unaware barreling up the opposite side of the road, a bullet train overtaking the steam locomotive Columbia and those which incorrectly chose their wheels to sit upon represented.

Today the Columbia train made no such mistakes. Nothing was going to take this team out of their element today. They set up just behind the Garmin train building its momentum for American sprinter Tyler Farrar, Renshaw leading Cavendish with maillot vert Hushovd tucked onto their wheels. In the final 200 meters, everything opened up and it was each rocket kicking for the line. Cavendish proved the Manx Missile monicker apt today, zipping in ahead of Gerald Ciolek of Milram and repeat top-five finisher Edvald Boasson Hagen for Sky.

In the process, as Hushovd finished fifth ahead of Petacchi's eighth, the Norwegian earned another four points to add to his buffer in the green jersey standings. But with Cavendish finally finding his finishing speed in Montargis, the rest of the sprinters in the peloton must be wary that the gregarious British cyclist might just be on the warpath now that he's tasted blood. He finds himself in the top ten in the points standings for the first time in the 2010 Tour, now just 52 points behind Hushovd after it was a seemingly-insurmountable 65-point gap yesterday. A few more results like this one, and we might just see the pre-race predictions bear fruit on Cavendish as he seeks his first green jersey in Paris...

RESULTS - STAGE 5

Mark Cavendish (Columbia) 4:30:50
Gerald Ciolek (Milram)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky)
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne)
Thor Hushovd (Cervelo)
Sebastien Turgot (Bbox-Bouygues)
Robbie McEwen (Katusha)
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre)
Lloyd Mondory (AG2R)
Tyler Farrar (Garmin) all s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) 22:59:45
Geraint Thomas (Sky) +0:23
Cadel Evans (BMC) +0:39
Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) +0:46
Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) +1:01
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +1:09
Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) +1:19
Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) +1:31
Alberto Contador (Astana) +1:40
Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega) +1:42
Nicolas Roche (AG2R)

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) 102
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) 88
Robbie McEwen (Katusha) 81
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) 73
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) 64
Sebastien Turgot (Bbox-Bouygues) 59
Geraint Thomas (Sky) 59
Daniel Oss (Liquigas) 54
Mark Cavendish (Columbia) 50
Gerald Ciolek (Milram) 49

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS

Jerome Pineau (Quick Step) 13
Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) 8
Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) 8
Jurgen Van De Walle (Quick Step) 6
Maxime Monfort (Columbia) 5
Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) 4
Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 4
Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) 3
Iban Mayoz (Footon-Servetto) 3
Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 3

BEST YOUNG RIDER

Geraint Thomas (Sky) 23:00:08
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +0:46
Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) +2:01
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) +2:12
Tony Martin (Columbia)
Arkaitz Duran (Footon-Servetto) +2:26
Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) +2:35
Kristjan Koren (Liquigas) +2:44
Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) +2:47
Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Caisse d'Ep) +2:51

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Comments (1) Add A Comment

July 9, 2010 08:01 AM ET

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The only reason Lance isn't "doing well," right up there with the other GC contenders, is a flat tire at a bad time on the cobbles. He was the best of the serious yellow jersey challengers in the prologue TT. The mountains await us this weekend, and the men will be separted from the boys in a few more days.