Round-up of 2011 Tour de France from Stage 1 to Stage 15: Part 5
Article continued from Round-up of 2011 Tour de France from Stage 1 to Stage 15: Part 4
Stage 7
Mark Cavendish claimed his 17th stage victory at Tour de France as he won the 215-kilometre stage 7, starting from Le Mans and finishing at Châteauroux.
The 29-year-old German cyclist, André Greipel, approached the finish-line first, but Cavendish moved out from the back with Mark Renshaw on the left, as he accelerated and never looked back.
Cavendish said, “This is a very special day for me. This was one sprint that I really wanted apart from the one Paris because of its significance to me.”
Leading the Team Sky, Bradley Wiggins, however, had to quit the race due to a huge crash with 40 kilometres to go. Cavendish was shocked on hearing the news about the crash and said, “I didn’t know that he’d crashed out, where that happen? I’m guttered for
him. He is in the best form of his life and we could have brought home the sprints and yellow jersey to Briton.”
Wiggins was not alone to leave the race as Rémi Pauriol of FDJ was also forced out of the Tour. Chris Horner of RadioShack ended up on a road-side dump, but managed to finish the race.
Thor Hushovd sustained his grip on the yellow jersey as he finished at the seventh position, while José Joaquín Rojas received the green jersey after finishing sixth in the intermediate sprint.
Mark Cavendish finished first with 45 points, Alessandro Petacchi second with 35 points and André Greipel with 30 points at the third position.
Mickaël Delage, Gianni Meersman and Yannick Talabardon were the top three sprinters at the intermediate sprint of 192.5 kilometres with 20, 17 and 15 points, respectively. Denis Galimzyanov, Arnold Jeannesson and Michael Schär were the top three young riders
at end of stage 7.
Yannick Talabardon was the most aggressive rider of the stage. Top five riders in overall classification were Thor Hushovd, Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, David Millar and Andreas Klöden.
Jose Joaquin Rojas leads the point's table with 167 points with Philippe Gilbert at number two with 156 points and Mark Cavendish at number three with 150 points.
Johnny Hoogerland continued with his Polka dot jersey, while he led the mountains classification with 4 points followed by the 24-year-old French cyclist, Anthony Roux, with 3 points.
Robert Gesink, Rein Taaramae and Arnold Jeannesson were the top three cyclists at the young rider’s classification.
Team Garmin-Carvelo continued its first position with Leopard Trek jumping from third to second position, Team RadioShack at third, HTC-Highroad at fourth and Quickstep Cycling Team making its way to the fifth position. Team Sky Pro Cycling dropped down
eighteen positions as it fell from second position to 20th position.
Article continued from Round-up of 2011 Tour de France from Stage 1 to Stage 15: Part 6
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