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NARBONNE, France: Isle of Man sprinter Mark Cavendish made cycling
history on Thursday when he became the first Briton to claim three
stage wins in a single edition of the Tour de France.
Cavendish dominated a bunch sprint at the end of
the race’s 167.5-km 12th stage, finishing ahead of Frenchman
Sebastien Chavanel and Belgian Gert Steegmans.
“This was the hardest of all three sprints. It
was really fast all day,” said Cavendish, who overtakes former
British great Barry Hoban, twice a two-time stage winner in a single
edition of the race.
“I’m glad I could do that for my teammates
especially for how hard they’ve worked in the last few days.”
Australian Cadel Evans, of Silence-Lotto,
retained the race leader’s yellow jersey with a .01-second lead
over Luxembourg champion Frank Schleck, who rides for CSC.
American Christian Vande Velde is still in third
place at 38 seconds, while Austrian Bernhard Kohl remained fourth at
46. Russian Denis Menchov and Spaniard Carlos Sastre at 57 and 1:28
respectively in fifth and sixth.
-- AFP
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