Though he was missing his main leadout man Renshaw and battling bronchitis for several days, Mark Cavendish asserted his dominance over the rest of the field Friday afternoon in Bordeaux. Cavendish's HTC Columbia leadout train was disrupted on the run into Bordeaux, and the Manx Missile was left all alone to sprint for himself. He stayed carefully behind Thor Hushovd before jumping into Alessandro Petacchi's slipstream and then easily flew past Petacchi for his 4th stage win of the Tour. He built up such a lead so quickly that he sat up and looked back at 2nd place Julien Dean and Petacchi before fist-pumping at the finish line. Though the day clearly belonged to the man from the Isle of Man, it was a huge day for Petacchi as well.
Petacchi's 3rd place finish vaulted him well into the lead for the green jersey competition, with a 10 point lead over Hushovd (finished 14th) and 16 points over Cavendish. This competition will come to a dramatic conclusion Sunday afternoon when the best sprinters fight it out in Paris. The daily breakaway fell apart with about 20 km to go, but it took the field much longer to catch Daniel Oss, the lone survivor after the catch.
Oss, voted the daily most aggressive rider, turned himself inside out to keep a 30 second advantage over the peloton and was not caught until the final turn to the finish at 3.5 km to go. Nothing changed in the general classification, as all major contenders finished with the same time as Cavendish. Contador will be able to start last tomorrow, a goal he set for himself a while back.
Though he was missing his main leadout man Renshaw and battling bronchitis for several days, Mark Cavendish asserted his dominance over the rest of the field Friday afternoon in Bordeaux. Cavendish's HTC Columbia leadout train was disrupted on the run into Bordeaux, and the Manx Missile was left all alone to sprint for himself. He stayed carefully behind Thor Hushovd before jumping into Alessandro Petacchi's slipstream and then easily flew past Petacchi for his 4th stage win of the Tour. He built up such a lead so quickly that he sat up and looked back at 2nd place Julien Dean and Petacchi before fist-pumping at the finish line. Though the day clearly belonged to the man from the Isle of Man, it was a huge day for Petacchi as well. 
Petacchi's 3rd place finish vaulted him well into the lead for the green jersey competition, with a 10 point lead over Hushovd (finished 14th) and 16 points over Cavendish. This competition will come to a dramatic conclusion Sunday afternoon when the best sprinters fight it out in Paris. The daily breakaway fell apart with about 20 km to go, but it took the field much longer to catch Daniel Oss, the lone survivor after the catch.
Oss, voted the daily most aggressive rider, turned himself inside out to keep a 30 second advantage over the peloton and was not caught until the final turn to the finish at 3.5 km to go. Nothing changed in the general classification, as all major contenders finished with the same time as Cavendish. Contador will be able to start last tomorrow, a goal he set for himself a while back.
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