Cavendish hushes the doubters

Mark Cavendish(HTC) came from behind to take stage five of the Tour De France from Caraix to Cap Frehel.

In a frantic stage which had crashes galore and an equally exciting finish the sprinter from the Isle of Man put his doubters in their place to take the win. None of his rivals had noticed Cavendish hiding behind them until he came around them to take the win 200 yards from the finish.

The stage was full of incidents and crashes which have littered the opening week of the race so far. Favourite and last year’s winner Alberto Contador was again one of the riders to hit the deck but finished safely in the bunch. Jérémy Roy (FDJ) and Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) were out in front of the bunch in the days break but were brought back with 5KM to go.

Thor Hushovd kept the yellow jersey and all the main favourites and Scottish rider David Millar finished safely in the bunch.

Mark Cavendish seemed to have messed up another sprint opportunity when his lead out train seemed to have lost him in the last kilometre. Then when the win seemed out of reach fellow British rider Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) led him to the front. From here the Manx missile did what he does best and powered around Philip Gilbert (Omega Lotto) 2nd and Jose Rojas (Movie Star) 3rd.

Stage six is another flat stage for the sprinters so Mark Cavendish will again be favourite in his chase to get the green jersey.

tour de france stage 5

Evans triumphant again

Cadel Evans came out victorious on stage four of the Tour de France.
After a frantic 2KM favorite Philip Gilbert didn't have the legs and came in 5th in a close sprint between Contador and Evans.
Although Contador originally celebrated the win Evans was handed it on the photo finish in a battle which could be continued in the second week.
The ride of the day came from Thor Hushovd who managed to stay with the small group of leaders to retain the yellow jersey.
Wiggins came in 12 seconds down alongside Andy Shleck so no big losers today.

live stage four of the tour de france

live stage four

live text commentary of the closing stages of stage four from Lorient to Mur de Bretagne from 4 o'clock

tour de france stage 3

Due to technical difficulties only the last 20 km was covered live today. It is sorted and will be fine by tomorrows stage

Tyler Farra wins in Independence day.

An early break of four riders was brought back with 10 Km to go and carnage pursued in the peloton.
HTC looked like they were leading out Cavendish for a perfect victory in the last 5KM but as soon as they came to the front Cavendish was nowhere to be seen. By the final corner he was about 15 riders back and Garmin had controlled the front.
Carnage pursued with a crash on the final corner leaving the first ten riders clear with Cavendish stranded behind finishing in 5th.
Garmin's Tyler Farra took the win from their own sprinter Thor Hushovd who finished 6th.
Join us from 3.00 tomorrow for live coverage of stage 4 a hilly finish tomorrow so a interesting finish again maybe a stage for Gilbert