British sprint king Mark Cavendish took his victory tally on the Tour de France to 17 on Friday when he powered to victory in the seventh stage ahead of Italian veteran Alessandro Petacchi. Norway’s Thor Hushovd retained the leader’s yellow jersey after the 218km ride over mainly flat terrain from Le Mans to Chateauroux.
The Garmin-Cervelo rider will go into the first of two consecutive days in the hilly Massif Central region with a 01sec lead on Australian Cadel Evans. Cavendish, who claimed his first victory of the 98th edition on Wednesday, opened his Tour de France account at Chateauroux in 2008. After a perfect lead-out in the final kilometres by his HTC-Highroad sprint train, the Isle of Man sprinter came out from behind the wheel of lead-out man Mark Renshaw to beat Petacchi with ease at the finish.
Germany’s Andre Greipel was third for Omega-Pharma. While one Britain was celebrating, however, another was crying tears of frustration. Around 43km from the finish, yellow jersey contender Bradley Wiggins was forced out of the race after being caught up in a crash and fracturing his collarbone.
Meanwhile, yellow jersey contender Bradley Wiggins was forced out of the Tour de France after being caught up in a crash on the race’s seventh stage Friday, suffering a broken collar bone in the process. Wiggins, of Team Sky, finished fourth overall in 2009 and, after his recent victory in the Criterium du Dauphine race, the Englishman was considered a strong challenger to reigning champion Alberto Contador and Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck.
“He’s had a great season up to now,” said Team Sky sporting director Shane Sutton. “We were just hoping to capitalise on that form in the Tour. Brad came fourth on the 2009 Tour. Everyone knew the form he was in and I think everyone was hoping to see the 2009 Brad step up. “I am sure he would have been a real contender.” On what is their second participation in the world’s premier cycling event, Team Sky celebrated their first win Thursday when Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen won the sixth stage to Lisieux in Normandy.
However the team’s hopes of seeing Wiggins become the first Briton to finish on the podium ended around 43km from the end of Friday’s 218 km seventh stage to Chateauroux. As the peloton continued to close a gap of around 2min 46sec to a five-man breakaway, a crash — the cause of which was not immediately known — took down around a dozen riders.
Wiggins, the recently crowned British road champion, got up holding his left arm and obviously in pain. Tour medical officials later confirmed that Wiggins had suffered a broken collar bone. Wiggins, who had his eyes shut in pain, was given medical assistance at the side of the road as the remainder of the crash victims got back on their bikes. Moments later his race came to a definitive end when he was helped into an ambulance.
TEAM OVERALL
1. Garmin 84h39:01.
2. Leopard at 0:04.
3. RadioShack 0:10.
4. HTC 0:13.
5. Quick Step 1:21.
6. Rabobank 1:34.
7. Katusha 1:46.
8. Europcar 2:10.
9. Movistar 2:29.
10. Omega Pharma 2:53.