TdF: Cavendish gets his own back on Greipel and get his green

Mark Cavendish got his own back on Andre Griepel, as he beat the German in stunning fashion on stage 11, to put himself in green.

Cavendish clearly had the surprise defeat to Greipel, in stage 10, on his mind, as he beat the pack by almost two bike lengths. The Manxman enjoyed a perfect lead-out from his teammate Mark Renshaw, who made sure he was on the front at the right time. It nearly didn’t happen, when Cavendish’s foot unclipped from his pedal with 500 metres to go.

Greipel tried to use his stage 10 tactics and use Cav to propel him to the line, but the Omega-Pharma Lotto rider just didn’t have the speed. His third victory of the 2011 tour makes it 18 overall and puts him in to green. After his no show on stage 10, Tyler Farrar will be happy to have crossed the line in third.  Philippe Gilbert started the day as the maillot vert leader, but has slipped down to third while Jose Joaquin Rojas maintains second. They will have to wait a while now, until they can show their stuff again, as the peloton moves in to the Pyrenees.

It seems the tough Giro has been taking its toll on the riders, as John Gadret didn’t sign on in the morning; he cited fatigue as the reason. Eyes will now be on the three-time tour champion, Alberto Contador, to see if he can get to the end.

Compared to some of the stages in this year’s tour, there was a long wait for a breakaway that stuck. The weather probably played a factor, making the peloton nervous, after heavy rain in the evening and later on in the stage. Nine riders did try their luck, but it wasn’t until 18km gone that five riders managed to get away including Lars Boom. After only 5km, out in front, the quintet had already pulled out a three and a half minute gap.

HTC clearly had victory on their mind, very early on, and sent out a couple of riders to keep an eye on the breakaway. They were brought back pretty soon, but the Californian team kept themselves at the front for most of the day.

As the peloton began to reach the feeding zone, there was a split and some riders lost around 10 seconds. After several very severe crashes, during this year’s tour, the riders are becoming increasingly cautious, which was the cause of the initial split. The intermediate sprint was hotly contested and Cavendish added to his points tally. The Manxman made the decision to contest the intermediate sprints, after losing out on the green jersey for the last few years.

While the leaders reached the bottom of the second climb, they found their lead cut down to a lowly 1m 33s. They were finally caught with 4km to go, as Boom launched a solo attack in the hope he could stay out in front. The sprinter’s teams had a lot to lose and weren’t going to let the Dutchman go, so they worked together to pull him back.

There is no change in the GC, as Thomas Voeckler keeps his 1:49 lead over Luis Leon Sanchez and Cadel Evans is lurking behind. With the Pyrenees impending, Voeckler will have to fight hard to keep hold of the jersey. Johnny Hoogerland will also have to up his game, despite his injuries, if he hopes to keep hold of the mountain’s classification.

Stage 12 will be the toughest so far, with a 1^st category climb and two haut category climbs. The peloton will have to suffer the scene of last year’s GC battle, the Col du Tourmalet, before climbing to the mountain top finish of Luz-Ardiden. Prepare for a big shake up on the general and mountain’s classifications, as the men will be sorted from the boys.