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NIMES, France: Britain’s Mark Cavendish claimed his
fourth victory on the Tour de France here Friday after dominating
another bunch sprint at the end of the 182.5-km 13th stage from
Narbonne to Nimes.
Australian Cadel Evans retained
the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Saturday’s 14th stage
from here to Dignes-les-Bains at the foot of the Alps.
Only 24 hours after his
record-setting victory on stage 12, Cavendish reinforced his
reputation as the race’s fastest sprinter after outgunning
Evans’ Silence-Lotto teammate Robbie McEwen.
McEwen finished second, with
Frenchman Roman Feillu, of the Agritubel team, claiming third place
ahead of German Heinrich Haussler and Spaniard Oscar Freire.
“I had to give it a final push
and give it full gas again at the end because when I did the initial
kick I didn’t realize there was a headwind at the finish,” said
Cavendish.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m
going to have to get a further advantage’ and so I put in another
kick with about 100 to go in case I died. I didn’t die and I was
able to hold on so I’m pleased.”
Cavendish’s fourth win on the
race means he has now equaled the impressive feats of respected
sprinters Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi, both of whom won
four wins from single editions, in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
To put his success into
perspective, Cavendish—on only his second Tour
participation—already has a quarter of the 12 stages won by McEwen,
one of the elder statesmen of the race.
--AFP
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