Cavendish Breaks Record, Targets Green Jersey
In another turbulent day of the 97th edition of the 2010 Tour de France, Mark Cavendish took his third stage win in today’s Stage 11. This win brings his grand total to 13, a new record for sprint wins.
The previous record of 12 Tour de France sprint stage wins was set by Mario Cipollini and matched by Erik Zabel and Robbie McEwen. McEwen, 38, still has a chance to challenge Cavendish, as he currently holds six more points than the record breaker in the green jersey competition, and has finished fourth four times already this year and six times in the top ten.
“There’s still two, possibly three sprint days left,” said Cavendish. “Hopefully we’ll get some more wins.”
The British sprinter sat glumly after his most recent stage win, hardly celebrating his record-breaking feat. The HTC-Columbia team member was instead contemplating the disqualification of his lead-out man Mark Renshaw, without whom Cavendish may not have achieved his three stage wins this year, nor his six at last year’s Tour.
His record number is made all-the-more impressive by his young age of 25 and by the fact that this is only his fourth Tour de France, including a nervous debut in 2007. He surpassed his own mentor, Erik Zabel, with his quick climb to the top, but Zabel said that his moody reaction is only natural for a sprinter – especially one as emotional as Mark Cavendish.
“Sprinters are a different type of rider,” Zabel said. “Sometimes in just the last kilometers a single second makes the difference between winning and losing. For GC riders, if you make a mistake on a climb, you have an hour to make it good again. Sprinters are more like the goalies in a soccer game. They are much more emotional. Cav is the prototype of a sprinter.”
The sprint stage win is a different kind of victory. A sprinter is a specialist, and though the win in points classification often goes to a sprinter, the overall victory rarely does. Lance Armstrong, the record holder in overall victory, is an all-rounder – a cyclist who can contend in all stages instead of specializes in sprints or climbs. Armstrong is the prototype of a yellow jersey wearer, and holds 25 career stage wins, but few of them were won by sprinting. Eddy Merckx holds the overall record for most stage wins, at 34, but less than a third of them were in sprints.
“Now he is a completely different Cavendish that we see,” said Zabel, now retired. “Now that he has won stages he is much more relaxed, and he has something in the pocket. If more will come, then perfect, but it’s not a must.”
Robbie McEwen has not given up his distinction yet, and he is ahead of Cavendish in the green jersey competition, currently and historically, with three overall leads in points classification in his career. He finished fifth in today’s stage, and sits in third behind Alessandro Petacchi and Thor Hushovd, who wore the green jersey for the last eight stages.
“If you hesitate you’re going to stay in 100th position,” McEwen. “You’re never going to get to the front. There’s no hesitation. I’m not frightened of crashing. I’m still here, I’m hurting like h**l, so I think, it can’t get any worse, so just go for it."
Stages 18 and 20, book ending the crucial 52km time trial, will come down to sprint finishes, and Saturday’s Stage 13 may do the same if the breakaway doesn’t take it. Cavendish has said he has no intention of disappointing his teammates, part of a winning formula for the world-class sprinter.
“When I was young, sometimes the pressure was too much for me,” Zabel said. “All the adrenaline in the last kilometer is so high, that it’s difficult to come down from 100 to 0 in just 5 seconds after you cross the finish line. So sometimes you don’t know in which direction you have to put your emotions. Sometimes it goes in the wrong direction. It’s like that. I remember very well when I was young I was a bit the same. I’m here at the finish line to take care of Cav, and try to help him in this situation.”
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