World Champs: Mark Cavendish takes the Rainbow Jersey Ahead of Matt Goss

Mark Cavendish becomes the first male British Road Cycling World Champion, since Tom Simpson did it in 1965, after a tense sprint to the line.

Cavendish already has two Madison World Championship titles and came in to this year’s event as one of the clear favourites. There were some tense moments as his lead out men Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard looked frantically around for the Manxman. Thomas has to drop down the field, as they were heading around the final corner, to find him, but the Welshman delivered him to the front on time.

The Manx express then had to do the work for himself, with none of his teammates around; he clung to the back wheels of his rivals. He finally launched his attack with around 200 metres to go and beat his, soon to be former, trade team teammate Matt Goss, by half a bike length. With the demise of HTC Goss will be moving to Green Edge and is looking to make his mark on the sprinting world. The Aussie got a good lead out from, his German-born, teammate Heinrich Haussler, but he couldn’t quite manage to stay ahead of Cav.

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: Greipel gets one over on Cavendish to take maiden victory on stage 11

Andre Greipel finally put one over on his former teammate Mark Cavendish, to take his maiden Tour de France victory on stage 10.

Greipel used Cavendish as his lead out man, in the last few corners, and moved out at just the right time to take the stage by a wheel length. This victory now makes the Omega-Pharma Lotto rider the first German to win stages in all three Grand Tours. Victory is made sweeter when you consider Greipel hasn’t debuted in the tour earlier, because of Cavendish.

Video: 2011 Tour de France - Stage 7 + Bradley Wiggins crash

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.

Meyer breaks away to claim victory and the ochre jersey

Cameron Meyer took the overall lead of the Tour Down Under in the first successful breakaway of 2011.

The Australian time-trial champion rode through the pain, from his crash two days before, to launch an attack with four others. At 80km to go Meyer along with Thomas de Gendt, Matthew Wilson and Rob Rujigh made a bid for freedom. The Australian was the last man standing as his breakaway compatriots began to drop to claim his first professional victory.

Goss Close but no Cigar
Yesterday’s leader Matt Goss did his best to catch up with the Garmin-Cervelo rider, but he could only manage to get within 24 seconds. Meyer’s team were in the driving seat all day, with two riders at the front, they were able to control the peloton to let them stay away. At 20km to go it looked like the main group would catch the leaders, with all the sprinters teams taking turns on the front, but that is when the young Aussie put the power down. The 23-year-old now holds a 10-second lead over Laurens ten Dam; while Goss is now 12 seconds behind the leader.

Mike Matthews beats Greipel to the line in stage 3 of the Tour Down Under

Mike Matthews continued the good run of the young stars as he took stage three of the Tour Down Under in Stirling, Australia.

The 20-year-old Rabobank rider took a huge scalp as he beat the TdU king Andre Greipel to the line, despite the German’s best efforts. He is the second Australian to win a stage of this year’s tour with Matt first. Matthews came in to the final straight down in to fifth, but managed to power past the rest of the pack and make it look easy.

Tough Day in the Hills
Stage three was the first of the hills in this year’s tour and probably the most difficult alongside Stage 5 heading in to Willunga. Third place fell to Tasmanian Goss, who re-took the leaders Ochre jersey. The leader’s curse seemed to continue as Robbie McEwen got a puncture late on in the stage causing him to lose control on the race.

Ben Swift avoids the carnage to win stage 2 of the Tour Down Under

Ben Swift avoided a huge crash in the final straight to take victory in the second stage of the Tour Down Under.

Swift was lead through the final bend by British Champion Geraint Thomas and managed to power home for his first ProTour victory. The 23-year old, however, left destruction in his wake as he crossed the line. After peeling off to let Swift through Thomas was clipped by another rider, trying to squeeze past, and hit the deck. This cause a chain reaction that sent many others to the floor meaning there was only around 15 riders left in the bunch.

Goss Claims opening stage of Tour Down Under

Australian Matt Goss claimed the opening stage of the Tour Down Under along with the leader’s jersey in front of his home crowd.

The HTC rider beat his former team-mate Andre Greipel (now Omega-Pharma Lotto) in an uphill sprint to the line in Angaston, South Australia. The home nation also saw Robbie McEwen, who has recently moved to RadioShack, find form again in third place. The American team showed why they are one of the most feared teams in the peloton, by keeping the pace up and making sure more than one of their riders had a chance for the victory. Goss has already taken wins at two other races at this early stage in the season at the Jayco Bay Classic and Cancer Council Classic.

Elite Men's Road Race - Preview

Cadel Evans will take to the roads on Sunday in an attempt to defend his World Championship on home soil.

Evans will not want to give up the rainbow jersey easily and certainly not in front of his own people. He has had an up and down year, but the home crowd could be just what he needs to give him a boost.

Fabian Cancellara is also looking to put on a good show after winning a record fourth time. The Swiss rider announced his intentions before the championship to go for the road race. His compatriot Michael Albasini has also been on good form recently winning the Tour of Britain despite having dysentery during the race.

Elite Men's Road Race Start list

1 EVANS Cadel  AUSTRALIA
2 COOKE Baden  AUSTRALIA
3 DAVIS Allan  AUSTRALIA
4 GERRANS Simon  AUSTRALIA
5 GOSS Matthew Harley  AUSTRALIA
6 HAYMAN Mathew  AUSTRALIA
7 O'GRADY Stuart  AUSTRALIA
8 ROGERS Michael  AUSTRALIA
9 SULZBERGER Wesley  AUSTRALIA
10 BARREDO LLAMAZALES Carlos  SPAIN
11 ERVITI OLLO Imanol  SPAIN
12 FREIRE GOMEZ Oscar  SPAIN
13 GARATE Juan Manuel  SPAIN
14 PLAZA MOLINA Ruben  SPAIN
15 SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon  SPAIN
16 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel  SPAIN
17 VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco José  SPAIN
18 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE Haimar  SPAIN
19 BRUSEGHIN Marzio  ITALY
20 GAVAZZI Francesco  ITALY

ToB: Andre Greipel takes another victory in stage 6 of the Tour of Britain

Andre Greipel won his second sprint finish in Stage six of this year’s Tour of Britain in Great Yarmouth.

The German had too much pace for Borut Bozic and went on to claim his 20^th victory of the season. If he hadn’t had Mark Cavendish as a teammate this man would surely have a few Grand Tour victories under his belt this season.

Greipel also won the opening stage from Rochdale to Blackpool beating Manuel Belletti to the line. The victory was also the second today for his team, fellow sprinter Mark Cavendish won his third stage in la Vuelta a Espana.

Mayer Makes the Brake

Cameron Mayer from Garmin-Transitions made a brave attempt for a victory today and it looked like he could do it. He launched an escape with Jeremy Hunt initially but the Cervelo ride was soon dropped and Jaroslav Marycz joined Mayer. The two managed to build up a big lead of seven minutes assisted by a tail wind most of the way, but the Aussie launched an attack and lost his Saxo Bank companion.