Five star Cavendish wins Tour stage in to Aubenas

Mark Cavendish, Tour de France 2009, stage 19

published 24 July 2009

Tour de France 2009 stage 19 photo gallery by Graham Watson>>

Mark Cavendish took his fifth stage win today making him the most successful British Tour de France rider in history.

Before the climb, the Brit had told his team mates to stay with him in order to help him chase back on should he need to, but every time the camera flicked back to him he looked as comfortable as anyone did in the long, lined-out bunch. Behind him riders were getting dropped, but riding in the top 20 in the shelter of his team mates, Cavendish was never in trouble and made it over the top with all the leaders.

Cavendish waited and waited, until he could wait no longer. Eventually he had to go, but with a slight rise to the finish he had his work cut out to hold off Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) in a long, drawn-out sprint. But the Norwegian took a while to get up to speed. He was slowly closing in on Cavendish by the time he hit the line but was never going to close the gap and was perhaps left ruing his decision to go on a lone break through the mountains two days before.

Armstrong finished in 12th spot on the same time as Cavendish, while Wiggins was in 14th spot, four seconds down. The result now means Wiggins is 15 seconds down on the American who sits in third place on general classification. Wiggins now needs to gain 16 seconds on Armstrong by the top of Mont Ventoux if he is to make history and become the first Briton to finish in the top three of the Tour de France.

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Five star Cavendish wins Tour stage in to Aubenas

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