Andre Greipel, can sleep easier. The recurring nightmare of seeing his arch-nemesis and former team mate, Mark Cavendish, beating him to the finish line has come to an end after he defeated Cavendish in the sprint to win Stage 10 of the 2011 Tour De France.
178 riders knee came back from their rest day to contest today’s stage from Aurillac to Carmaux.
The tour started with 198 riders. 19 have succumbed to injuries or illness, while Team Katusha rider, Alexandr Kolobnev made headlines yesterday by withdrawing from the tour after testing positive to Shane Warne’s diuretic.
Although, Stage 10 did have a slightly hilly profile, the expected bunch finish dominated by the HTC Highroad road train did not eventuate.
15 km from the finish Phillipe Gilbert made a break for it on the last climb of the day. Four riders including yellow jersey holder, Thomas Voeckler and HTC’s Tony Martin joined him. This very strong group caused panic in the peloton.
It had to give chase to give the sprinters any chance of contesting the finish.
Gilbert was caught a few kilometres from the line but the damage had been done. The HTCs road train had disintegrated. Lead out men Mark Renshaw and Matt Goss were nowhere to be seen.
Isolated, Mark Cavendish came around the last corner with 250 metres to go in second place. He was locked onto the wheel of Liquigas’ Daniel Oss. Sitting behind Cavendish and ready to pounce was Gilbert’s Omega Pharma team mate, Andre Greipel.
This is how Cavendish described the finish via Twitter.
“Well, that’s me beaten. Went with 250m to go, but didn’t ‘kick’ until 200m. Greipel rode it perfect and got speed by running up on me. Hats off”
Omega Pharma’s well worked strategy succeeding to finally deliver a much relieved Greipel his first ever stage win.
There was no movement among the candidates for the overall title. Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador (with his dodgy knee) all recorded the same time as the stage winner.
Tonight’s 167.5km stage 11 from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur presents the sprinters with one last chance to pick a win before their ordeal in the Pyrenees begin.
If they do happen to survive, they will we have two more opportunities to pick up a win; the stage finish in Montpellier and the finish on the Champs-Élysées.
Stage 10 Results
Rider Team Time Gaps
1. GREIPEL André OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 3h 31′ 21″
2. CAVENDISH Mark HTC – HIGHROAD 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
3. ROJAS Jose Joaquin MOVISTAR TEAM 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
4. HUSHOVD Thor TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
5. FEILLU Romain VACANSOLEIL-DCM 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
6. OSS Daniel LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
14. GILBERT Philippe OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
24. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
31. CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00″
38. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 3h 31′ 21″ + 00′ 00
Overall Standings
Rider Team Time Gaps
1. VOECKLER Thomas TEAM EUROPCAR 42h 06′ 32″
2. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon RABOBANK CYCLING 42h 08′ 21″ + 01′ 49″
3. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 42h 08′ 58″ + 02′ 26″
4. SCHLECK Frank TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 42h 09′ 01″ + 02′ 29″
5. SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 42h 09′ 09″ + 02′ 37″
6. MARTIN Tony HTC – HIGHROAD 42h 09′ 10″ + 02′ 38″
16. CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD 42h 10′ 39″ + 04′ 07″
Green Jersey Standings
Rider Team Points
1. GILBERT Philippe OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 226 pts
2. ROJAS Jose Joaquin MOVISTAR TEAM 209 pts
3. CAVENDISH Mark HTC – HIGHROAD 197 pts
4. HUSHOVD Thor 51 TEAM GARMIN – CERVELO 163 pts
5. EVANS Cadel 141 BMC RACING TEAM 135 pts
6. GREIPEL André 33 OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 123 pts
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