TdF: Cadel Evans storms in to yellow as Tony Martin wins Stage 20

Cadel Evans put on a stunning performance, to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France, as Andy Schleck cracked under pressure.

Evans came in to the individual time-trial with a 57 second deficit to the younger Schleck, after failing to make any time during the mountains. Many people predicted he would overhaul the gap, but nobody would have believed how much time he did take. The Australian had already taken 30 seconds out of the Luxembourgish rider, by the 15km mark.

By the final intermediate check he was only two seconds down on, the stage’s eventual winner, Tony Martin. He eventually crossed the line seven seconds down, but put a massive 2 minutes 31 seconds on Andy Schleck. Emotional scenes on the podium followed, as Evans had tears in his eyes, while the crowd gave him a huge cheer. The Australian will be the first from the Southern Hemisphere to win the tour, if he can stay on his bike until Paris.

TdF: Cavendish adds another in Montpellier as Rojas loses ground

Mark Cavendish showed the mountains hadn’t dented his speed, by beating Tyler Farrar and Alessandro Petacchi on stage 15.

The Manxman took another great lead-out, from Mark Renshaw, to put the jump on his rivals. Cav will take solace in the fact that his closest rival Jose Joaquin Rojas could only manage fifth, which earned him less than half the points of the British rider. Cavendish has all but sealed his position in the green jersey, with a 37 point lead over second place Rojas.

TdF: Hushovd shines as RadioShack suffer

Thor Hushovd showed his world championship winning colours, after a stunning descent, to take Stage 13 of the 2011 Tour de France.

Hushovd, who was in yellow for much of the first week, and David Moncoutie tracked down Jeremy Roy, who had been out on his own for some time. The Norwegian wasn’t going to stop there and left the other two, but he couldn’t relax in the final kilometre. With some very tight bends, it was all too easy to crash and Moncoutie was bearing down on him. Hushovd finally took the stage by 10 seconds and become the first world champion to win a stage, since Oscar Freire in 2002.

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.

TdF: Sanchez wins in the Massif Central as Voeckler takes yellow

Luis Leon Sanchez sprinted away from his breakaway compatriots, to win Stage 9, while Thomas Voeckler took the yellow.

Voeckler looked like he wanted to add a stage victory to the yellow, but Sanchez was too powerful and put in a 5 second gap in the last 100 metres. The Spaniard, who finished 11th in last year’s tour, now moves in to second in the classification, with a 37 second gap over Cadel Evans. Third across the line was Sandy Casar, who didn’t have the legs to challenge Sanchez and Voeckler.

Tdf: Mark Cavendish makes it two as Bradley Wiggins crashes out

Mark Cavendish sprints to his second victory of the 2011 Tour, while his compatriot Bradley Wiggins pulls out with a broken collar bone.

The Manx express defeated his former teammate Andre Greipel and last year’s green jersey winner Alessandro Petacchi, to move him in to third in the standings. HTC have struggled to get their famous lead-out right, this year, but Mark Renshaw and Matt Goss timed it perfectly to allow their sprinter the best chance.

TdF: Mark Cavendish wins in crash filled Stage 5

Mark Cavendish has briefly silenced his critics after winning a hard fought final sprint on Stage 5 of the Tour de France.

Cavendish has been out of contention in the sprints so far, but he powered around the outside of the bunch to beat Philip Gilbert to the line. The gradient favoured Gilbert, who won on similar terrain a few days before, but the Manxman went the long way around to edge him out.

Tyler Farrar wins on Independence Day

Tyler Farrar made it a second stage victory for Garmin-Cervelo and rode in to the history books, as the first American to win on Independence Day.

Farrar’s first tour victory came after help from his teammate, and former green jersey winner, Thor Hushovd and Julian Dean. The American edged out Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil, by half a bike, Jose Joaquin Rojas. Farrar dedicated his victory to his best friend Wouter Weylandt, who was killed in a freak accident during the Giro D’Italia, by putting his hands in a W sign.