TdF: Mark Cavendish wins on the Champs-Elysees and claims Green

Mark Cavendish took his third consecutive victory on the Champs-Elysees, to become the first British rider to win the fabled green jersey.

Cavendish launched himself from the wheel of, his lead-out man Mark Renshaw, and never looked in doubt of the victory. Edvald Boasson Hagen tried to take a third victory, but the young Norwegian just didn’t have the speed to pass the Manx missile. Boasson Hagen started to reel in the green jersey, but Cavendish gave a second kick and beat him by over a bike’s length. Cav now has six victories in the 2011 tour and 20 tour victories overall.

 

HTC quietly brilliant

HTC clearly had a few plans in action, with Lars Bak out on the front and looking to mop up the maximum points. The HTC train went in to full force and proved to be too much for him and he was caught with 1km to go. Despite his multiple tour victories, this is the first time Cavendish has donned the green jersey in Paris.

There were many emotional scenes, after crossing the line, none more emotional than Cadel Evans. He becomes the first Southern Hemisphere rider to win the Tour de France, after producing a stunning time-trial in Grenoble. The Australian missed out on the yellow jersey twice, after being unable to close the gap in the time-trial. It was to be this year, as he took over 2 minutes 30 seconds out of Andy Schleck.

Family affair

Andy and his brother Frank became the first brothers to step on the podium, after finishing second and third. The Luxembourgish riders worked well together during the tour and just missed out on the top spot.

Samuel Sanchez might have missed out on the podium spot, he so wanted, but finally collected his King of the Mountains jersey. The Olympic champion took a victory and two second places, in the highest mountains, to become the first Spaniard to win the jersey since the 1970s. Pierre Rolland rounded off the individual awards, with a well earned white jersey. Rolland was Thomas Voeckler’s work horse in the mountains and was finally given the chance, on the Alpe d’Huez, for a stage victory. All of the jersey winners were claiming their prize for the first time, with none of them ever taking home one of the tour’s jerseys.

And finally...

For his many attacks, in the mountains, Jeremy Roy was awarded the most combatative rider prize, but surely would have loved to taken a victory. Garmin-Cervelo rounded off a great tour, with the team prize; the American outfit finished 11 minutes ahead of Leopard-Trek.

The short route meant there was very little attacking and the breakaway weren’t left with much room to manoeuvre. A 6-man group began to form, at the end of the first lap, but they were never let out further than a minute. Everything was back together for the finish, as 167 finished the final stage.