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.

Video: 2011 Tour de France - Stage 15 - Mark Cavendish makes it four

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.

Video: A day in the life of the media, at the Tour de France with Fox Sports

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.

2011 Giro D'Italia Start List Announced

Stefano Garzelli

ACQUA & SAPONE
1 Stefano Garzelli (ITA)
2 Massimo Codol (ITA)
3 Claudio Corioni (ITA)
4 Alessandro Donati (ITA)
5 Ruggero Marzoli (ITA)
6 Vladimir Miholjevic (CRO)
7 Danilo Napolitano (ITA)
8 Cayetano Sarmiento Tunarrosa (COL)
9 Fabio Taborre (ITA)

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.

TOB: Wouter Poels take victory in stage four but Albasini keeps the lead

Wouter Poels launched an attack on the final climb of the day to beat teammate Borut Bozic and win stage four of the Tour of Britain amid panic for the organisers.

The Dutchman survived the early attacks made on the group to ride away from his teammate Bozic by five seconds. The win added to the news he’d received the day before that he would be part of the team going to the World Championships after Laurens Ten Dam crashed in the Vuelta.

Stage four took riders from Minehead to Teignmouth and was billed as the Queen stage of this year’s tour. It proved to be too difficult for most of the field who couldn’t keep up with the pace set by the front group.