Mark Cavendish begins perfect day for HTC-Highroad by taking green jersey in 2011 Tour de France
HTC-Highroad team’s Mark Cavendish won the 13 stage and claimed his third victory of this year in 2011 Tour de France on Wednesday, July 13. Thomas Voeckler retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in Blaye-les-Mines and ended in Lavaur. The 26-year-old Cavendish took a total of 3 hours, 46 minutes and 7 seconds to cover the distance of 168 kilometres.
Cavendish told the media, "I said last night that I would win tomorrow, when the guys ride like they did yesterday and I can't do my job it's hard so I made sure I got the win today. Yesterday, Greipel was perfect but today I made sure I didn't make the
same mistake."
Andre Greipel of Omega Pharma-Lotto was the runner-up and Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Cervelo was in the third place. A total of 130 cyclists crossed the finish line. Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun) tried his best to catch the 130 cyclists, but failed and grabbed
the 131st place with a difference of 27 seconds.
Cavendish maintained his pace and took the maximum points in the intermediate sprint. When the race entered Lavaur, the Garmin-Cervelo rider, Tyler Farrar, and Sky rider, Edvald Boasson Hagen, increased their pace in front of the bunch. However, Cavendish
made a right move and Greipel was the only one cyclist to catch Mark, but he failed and Mark crossed the finish line ahead of the other riders.
Cavendish showed his good effort and took the overall points classification and wrapped up the green jersey with 251 points. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil was in the second spot with 235 points and Philippe Gilbert was in the third place with 231 points.
Mark further added, “It's incredible to have the green jersey. It's the most beautiful jersey in the world.”
Thomas maintained his overall lead with a timing of 45 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds, while Luis Leon Sanchez was in second place with 1 minute and 49 seconds behind Thomas.
Cadel Evans was in the third spot with a difference of 2 minutes and 26 seconds ahead of Frank Schleck.
The next stage will start in Cugnaux and end in Luz-Ardiden. All the riders will cover the distance of 209 kilometres.
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