CHATEAUROUX, France: Briton Mark Cavendish finally delivered on his position as one of the world’s top sprinters when he powered to his first Tour de France stage victory yesterday.
The Team Columbia rider prevailed in a mass sprint at the end of the fifth stage, a 232 km. ride from Cholet to Chateauroux, with German Stefan Schumacher retaining the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
Cavendish beat three times world champion Oscar Freire of Spain and six times Tour best sprinter Erik Zabel of Germany.
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, one of the race’s hot favorites, fell off his bike after 87km and sustained bruises to his left elbow, knee and calf.
Norway’s Thor Hushovd of the Credit Agricole team, who finished fourth, took the green jersey for the points classification.
Schumacher stayed 12 seconds ahead of team mate Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg and Briton David Millar of Garmin-Chipotle in the overall standings.
“Every kid who likes cycling dreams of the Tour de France,” said Cavendish. “When I was a kid I would only watch the Tour. A Tour stage is something you never forget.”
Before a breathtaking finale in the streets of Chateauroux, which saw the peloton catch French champion Nicolas Vogondy less than 100 meters from the line, three Frenchmen had jumped away from the bunch after 11 km.
Vogondy, Lilian Jegou and Florent Brard had built an eight-minute 15-second lead over the main pack on the longest stage of this year’s Tour.
The sprinters’ teams took turns to attack and it seemed they would easily swallow the escapees.
However, when the peloton got to the trio, Vogondy powered ahead at the one km mark and it briefly seemed he would surprise everyone by staying out in front but it was not to be.
Far behind the trio another Frenchman, Aurelien Passeron of the Saunier-Duval team, collided with a woman on the road a few km from the finish.
The woman and Passeron got to their feet, with the rider arriving at the finish with a four-minute 55-second deficit.
Passeron was taken to hospital for further checks on back and stomach pains, organizers said in a statement. Colombian Juan Mauricio Soler, who won last year’s polka dot jersey for the best climber, pulled out injured on Wednesday.
The Barloworld rider, who fractured his wrist and suffered an arm injury in a crash during the first stage, fell off his bike just before the start of the stage and quit after 11 km.
