Mark Cavendish storms to fourth stage win despite Marcel Kittel objection
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Updated 16/07/2016 at 20:56 GMT
Britain’s Mark Cavendish flew to a fourth stage win on the 2016 Tour de France – and a career 30th – as he outsprinted Marcel Kittel and Alexander Kristoff at the Bird Park at Villars-les-Dombes after a blustery day in the Rhone valley, writes Felix Lowe.
Mark Cavendish wins his fourth Stage
Image credit: AFP
A fast conclusion to the 208.5-kilometre stage 14 from Montelimar saw Cavendish (Dimension Data) soar past Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) on the home straight before slightly deviating his line ahead of what appeared the easiest of his four wins so far this July.
The German swerved dramatically before waving his arm in protest but the race jury allowed the result to stand as Cavendish moved within four stage wins of Eddy Merckx’s record tally of 34 victories on the Tour.
Norway’s Kristoff (Katusha) took second place ahead of Slovakian world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Germany’s John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin).
Kittel completed the top five while there was no birthday celebrations for sixth-place for German national champion Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal), who coasted home just ahead of France’s Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie).
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Cavendish beats Kittel to claim his fourth stage victory at Tour de France stage 14
Cavendish, 31, told reporters he had done nothing wrong in the final sprint despite the objections of Kittel. "I jumped around him and obviously it bent over to the right and he's kicked off a little bit, but I was way past him by then. I don't figure there's anything wrong there. I think he was just frustrated," he said.
In the battle for the yellow jersey there was no change in the general classification as Britain’s Chris Froome (Team Sky) retained his 1:47 lead over Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) ahead of the Alps. Another Briton, Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange, is third at 2:45.
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Four for Cavendish! Sprint king dominates unhappy Kittel
How the stage was won
Break: A serious headwind of 60kmph meant the peloton covered just 30 kilometres in the opening hour before Frenchman Jeremy Roy (FDJ) instigated the first attack of what became – at least to fans – a long and tedious day in the saddle.
Breakaway specialist Roy was joined by Swiss veteran Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling), Italy’s Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon18) and American Alex Howes (Cannondale-Garmin) in a four-man move whose lead never rose above five minutes as the race head due north towards Lyon.
Drama was at a minimum as the peloton contentedly rolled on at a relatively relaxed pace after three challenging days that featured crosswinds in the Languedoc, chaos on Mont Ventoux and a demanding time trial in the Ardeche.
Before the break had formed, Belgian Thomas De Gendt added a single point to his king of the mountains tally as the Lotto Soudal conqueror of Ventoux crested the summit of the Cote de Puy-Saint-Martin in pole position to consolidate his lead in the polka dot jersey standings.
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Breakaway rides along during stage 14 of the Tour de France - Howes, Benedetti, Elmiger, Roy
Image credit: Eurosport
Turning point: Howes and Benedetti shared the spoils over the next two climbs as the break retained a four-minute lead entering the final 100 kilometres.
The gap gradually came down over the course of the stage, and once Sagan consolidated his lead in the green jersey standings at the intermediate sprint 60 kilometres from the finish, the teams of the sprinters edged to the front of the pack to start the chase.
Howes was first to crack from the break, the American slipping off the back on a short climb inside the final 15 kilometres. By now the gap was just 30 seconds and Benedetti was the next of the escapees to throw in the towel – leaving Roy and Elmiger to ride on before shaking hands when the pack made the inevitable bridging with three kilometres remaining.
Finale: The Etixx-QuickStep team of Kittel led the pack into Villars-les-Dombes before Andre Greipel’s Lotto Soudal muscled in as the reduced peloton sped under the flamme rouge.
It was Kittel who opened up the sprint with Cavendish in the right place – in the slipstream of his big rival. The Manxman launched early but decisively, swinging past Kittel on the right-hand side of the road while Kristoff and Sagan opened up on the opposite side.
That there was a deviation by Cavendish was undeniable, but it didn’t warrant the exaggerated reaction of Kittel. The German was well beaten by the time he gesticulated wildly as his rival surged clear to underline once again his position as the fastest finisher on this year’s race.
Kristoff came his closest yet to a victory but was beaten by half a bike length by Cavendish, with Sagan showing his consistency for a third place which further consolidated his lead in the green jersey standings.
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Marcel Kittel (r) complains as Mark Cavendish (l) wins stage 14 of the 2016 Tour de France
Image credit: Reuters
Good day
A fourth stage win puts Cavendish just four victories behind the great Merckx in his bid to become the most feted Tour stage winner of all time. Another win on the Champs-Elysees in a week would give Cavendish the belief that he can return in 2017 with a realistic chance of swallowing up the Cannibal’s record.
Froome will be happy not to have experienced any problems on another windy day, while Sagan still holds a 62-point lead over Cavendish in the points classification and looks all-but guaranteed a fifth successive green jersey in Paris.
Bad day
So dominant these past three years, Germany’s sprinters have been eclipsed by Cavendish this year with Kittel notching just the one win with Greipel – a quadruple winner in 2015 – still struggling to be a factor in the sprints, let alone a serious contender.
It was a sad day for Mathias Frank (IAM) who withdrew from the race just two days before the Tour enters his native Switzerland, while Denmark’s Matti Breschel (Cannondale-Drapac) crashed badly and was taken to hospital for treatment on a nasty cut in his leg. Belgian Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) also crashed and completed the stage with a fractured right shoulder blade.
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Chris Froome with Team Sky during stage 14 of the Tour de France
Image credit: Eurosport
Coming up: Stage 15 – Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz, 160km
No fewer than eleven peaks – four of which categorised – pepper this yo-yoing stage in the lush Jura Massif during which the riders will clock more than 4,000m of vertical gain.
Over a barrage of climbs the stage builds to the party piece of the day: a double ascent of the tough Grand Colombier (the second of which via the shorter but steeper hairpins, or lacets) ahead of a tricky 5.5km drop to the finish through dense forest.
Culoz has never featured in the Tour although Katusha's Rein Taaramäe and Sky's Wout Poels have both won stages here in the Tour de l'Ain.
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