It was a classic Renshaw lead out and Cavendish win on stage 11 of the 2010 Tour de France, with a twist, Team HTC Columbia rider Mark Renshaw has been disqualified for “headbutting”.
In the final sprint finish of the 184,5km stage from Siteron to Bourg-lés-Valence, Garmin Transitions rider Julian Dean moved over towards Mark Renshaw and pushed out with his elbow. Mark Renshaw responded by knocking back with his head three times; (UCI = Headbutts).
The official Tour de France race report says “It was a rudimentary sprint stage even if Mark Renshaw decided he needed to account for the fast finish of Garmin-Transition’s Julian Dean by using his head rather than legs.”
Team HTC Columbia technical director Allan Pieper (Australian) reacted to the news “The victory of Cavendish was beautiful but the disqualification of Renshaw is rather cruel. I have only just been told about the disqualification and I can’t really believe it. Is he relegated in the stage? [“No, thrown out of the tour.”] And Farrar? He’s allowed to stay in the race? I can’t understand it.”
(There may have been some confusion at the time as to whether Tyler Farrar was involved – Julian Dean was leading out team mate Farrar).
Stage winner Mark Cavendish commented; “It was Julian who put his elbow in and if Mark didn’t push back there was a chance they could have locked elbows and gone down? Mark just kept going and did everything he could to keep me out of trouble. I’m lucky to have a guy who will put himself on the line for me like that. He’s got incredible bike handling skills and it’s so nice to be able to follow his wheel from 50 kilometers to go and know that, at the finish, I’ll be put in a winning position.“
Cavendish has suggested that the team will lodge an appeal against the decision which race director Jean-Francois Pescheux has called “blatant” however the changes that the decision is reverse is slim.
Mark Renshaw commented in his interview with BNA before the tour started that the goal of 2010 was to repeat the success of 2009. “If I can emulate last seasons job I will be really happy with that”. Renshaw is often referred to as being the best lead-out man in the world and so Mark Cavendish’s six 2009 Tour de France wins may now be a little harder to replicate.
Allan Pieper is still confident that Cavendish can still win stages though argues that the disqualification stands in no relation to the stage six fight between Carlos Barredo (QuickStep) and Rui Costa (Caisse d’Epargne) in which Barredo used his front wheel to attack Costa and both riders through punches. Both riders simply issue with a fine of 400 Swiss Frank (Aussie $435).
The Tour de France continues
Andy Schleck (Saxobank) retains his Yellow leaders jersey, 40 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador (Astana) while Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel) is a further 2 minutes behind Contador.
Alessando Petacchi (Lampre) has now taken over the green points jersey from Cerv?lo TestTeam rider Thor Hushovd and Quickstep rider J?r?me Pineau retains the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey, 2 points ahead of BBox rider Anthony Charteau.
Aussies in the classifications
The standings are largely unchanged, Michael Rogers is the top ranked Australian cyclist in the GC in 15th and Cadel Evans is in 18th. In the Points classification, Robbie McEwen is in third place.
Stage 12 Preview
The ride becomes hilly again in the 12th stage from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende with 210,5 kilometres and three Category 3 climbs and two Category 2 climbs. Particularly with the steep climb to Mende, this stage will make or break riders who are planning on a podium finish in Paris.
