Behind me, Mark did the same. A few seconds later, at the front of the main bunch, I started the descent. Originally a track cyclist in the madison, points race, and scratch race, he has also competed on the road since 2006. I was also dressed head-to-toe in brand-new kit.
Cavendish is a cycling sprinter, and is a prolific winner of individual stages in stage races.
George pulls off.
The whole stage, up to the bottom of the climb, was blistering, with guys even getting dropped on the flat.
“Let’s sprint just to confuse them. Mark Cavendish’s First Win on the Champs-Elysees Boy Racer unmasks the manic, brutal world of professional cycling from the candid viewpoint of the sport’s brash young superstar, Mark Cavendish. And we leave everyone behind—so much so that, had I known, I’d have sat up and let Mark come through for the win.Instead I screamed as I crossed the line and threw up my arms.
“Stay together! The noise, the color, the view—the goosebumps when it all hit me. Now I only had Tony Martin, who was going to have to pull off the lead-out of the century, from a kilometer out, all uphill.
- Bradley Wiggins finishes in fourth place in first GC attempt, fuelling belief in UK that he could one day win the Tour. - Alberto Contador wins the overall
In every sprint until then, we’d all kept something in reserve, except me on Stage 2, but now we didn’t need to hold anything back. Five hundred meters. Still, I wince.
I wait until 250, maybe 200, and he launches me. Enjoy this chapter from the book!
Relief.Into the straight. Cavendish confirmed his status as the fastest sprinter in the world and his team mates proved yet again that they are perhaps the best ever lead-out train in cycling.Other teams, in particular Tyler Farrar’s Garmin-Slipstream squad, tried to disrupt and derail the Columbia-HTC lead-out train on the run-in to the line but ended up ruining their own chances.Hincapie dragged the peloton across the Place de la Concorde and then Renshaw took the best line through the corner and onto the Champs-Élysées.Cavendish was on his wheel, while the other sprinters tangled and blocked each other, and that meant that their sprint was over before it really began.Cavendish moved past Renshaw with two hundred metres to go and opened an even bigger gap.
With 48 Grand Tour stage victories he is joint third on the all-time list. Our sprint on the Ventoux was part peace offering, part crowd-pleaser, part private joke at the expense of the media. And counting.
Astana’s Alberto Contador collected his third Tour de France title on Sunday as HTC-Columbia’s Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in the 20th and final stage on the Champs-Élysées… If he had not sat up to celebrate, Cavendish would probably have won by a second, the gap was that big.Behind, Renshaw kept going to take a deserved second place, with Farrar third. Nothing. I’d told our team press officer, Kristy, not to make me do any interviews.
Renshaw takes over.
Contador may have won the Tour, Hushovd may have beaten me to the green jersey by ten points and by default, but the performance the whole of Paris would remember had come from my team. Incredible. Cycling UCI Road World Championships 2011 - Mark Cavendish Elite Race Winner Full HD - Duration: 14:45. Mark kicks. Finally, as the road kicked up toward the finish with 1 kilometer to go, George vacuumed them up. Dave Millar took us under the kilometer-to-go flag, then George Hincapie smashed past and onto the front.
Four hundred, 300. I said all along I wanted to win on the Champs-Élysées and didn’t want to disappoint,” Cavendish said.It gave the Manxman his sixth stage win of the 2009 Tour and the 10th of his short career.Contador jumped onto the podium with the Arc du Triomphe in the background and fired off his traditional victory salute. He beat second-placed Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) by 4-11, with team mate but rival Lance Armstrong (Astana) third at 5-24.Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) finished in the bunch in 55th place and so secured his fourth place overall at 6-01. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) was sixth and so secured the green points jersey.“It’s amazing. Peter Running Tesla 362,013 views
Mark Cavendish wins on the Champs-Élysées to take his sixth stage of the race - Alberto Contador wins the overall - Lance Armstrong finishes on the …