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Stage 11 and the 184.5 km route from Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence returned the riders to comparative flatness, and the unanimous expectation of a sprint finish. There were two intermediate sprints to contend with, although Mark Cavendish (HTC) had pretty much ruled himself out of them, saying the team was set up for Stage wins instead. For the riders in serious contention for the Green Jersey however, every point was to be fought over. The course also had one climb, the category 3 col de Cabre.

The one escape of the stage took place right from the start, with Stephane Auge (COF) taking off immediately with Jose Benitez (FOT) and Anthony Geslin (FDJ) in pursuit, and they formed a leading trio for most of the race, the peloton happy to just keep them in their sights until near the end. As is becoming customary in the sprint stages, Lampre and HTC-Columbia provided the pace for the trailing group. At the summit of the col de Cabre, Benitez took maximum points, and meanwhile there was a chase for fourth place between Pineau and Charteau, with Pineau crossing the line first to secure his Polka Dot Jersey for another day.

The peloton seemed content just to track the leading trio, while making good pace with some of the Lampre riders, along with Grabsch for HTC and Zabriskie of Garmin. They held the trio within 2 minutes of them, until a sneaky attack by Perget (GCE) which lifted the pace, as he was snapped up by the pack, but with the time deficit reduced to 40 seconds.

When they were 30 km from the finish (and probably for most of the race) the front runners were resigned to the fact that they were going to be caught, but Benitez launched an attack nevertheless, which didn’t take hold, as the other two pegged him back. Soon afterwards, a last gasp attack by Geslin was marked by his fellow escapees, and as they caught and passed him, he capitulated and waited to be absorbed into the peloton, which was less than 20 seconds behind at that point.

Soon afterwards, there was one group reestablished and the sprint teams were beginning to jostle for position in what was about to become a staggering and controversial conclusion. First RadioShack had a go at the front, who were quickly replaced by FDJ, who in turn were taken over by Saxo Bank in an unusual move for a team not usually known as sprint experts; in fact they took up a front position to protect their man in the Yellow Jersey, Andy Schleck. The savvy riders had checked out the course and knew there was a very tricky chicane – a tight right turn followed immediately by a left-hander – just before the final kilometer, and they did not want the Maillot Jaune to get separated from the front by a crash, and lose precious time.

The injection of pace by Saxo Bank began to split the peloton, with riders dropping off the back. Chavanel put in a spurt around 8 km from the end, and was marked by Popovych. A kilometer later, the HTC boys caught up and led the peloton, but Lampre and Cervelo began to take control of the group as they made progress towards the flamme rouge.

(Photo of Mark Renshaw, by YellowMonkey/Blnguyen. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

The negotiation of the chicane was uneventful in that there were no crashes, and HTC were now in command, as the final kilometer became packed with drama. HTC lead-out dissolved into the usual suspects, Mark Cavendish and his frontman Mark Renshaw blazing the trail for him. As they went into full acceleration, they were challenged by Garmin sprinter Farrar and his lead-out man Dean. Dean decided to try and block the HTC pair by swerving across to lean into Renshaw, with elbow raised to smash them into the left barricades. As hands are not to be lifted from the handlebars in the sprint, Renshaw used track tactics, using his head to push Dean back to his racing line; three headbutts later, and Cavendish, who had been a mere spectator to the melee in front of him, decided to attack and take on the sprint from 375 meters out (far further out than preferred for Cav). Meanwhile Farrar ducked in to try and get on Cavendish’s slipstream, but Renshaw cut left to block – an illegal action. This slowed down Farrar, who in fairness would probably never have caught a flying Cavendish anyway.

Cavendish wins his third stage of the Tour de France and gets some valuable points for the Green Jersey, although winning it looks like a long shot now. However, there was more high drama, as the race officials looked closely at the actions involving Mark Renshaw during the sprint. They decided that he had committed a double infringement; one for headbutting against Dean, and then switching his racing line dangerously to impede Farrar. He was removed from the Stage listings for Stage 11, and more shockingly, was expelled from the rest of the Tour de France 2010. HTC-Columbia, his team, are appealing the decision. One thing is certain, Renshaw is a fantastic lead-out man for Cavendish, and so with Renshaw’s exit from the competition, it remains to be seen what that means for Cav’s chances in the remainder of the race.

The Stage 11 Results and GC Standings are as follows:

So for Cavendish that’s three stage wins this year so far, and 13 overall in Tours de France. The General Classification is unchanged after today’s stage. So that means Andy Schleck keeps the Yellow Jersey for tomorrow. Pineau retains the Polka Dot Jersey. The only swap of cycling shirts today was the Green Jersey, as Petacchi amassed enough points to topple Hushovd from his perch at the top of the Points Classification.

Tomorrow will be an interesting stage not least because we get to find out whether HTC’s appeals to reinstate Renshaw will fall on deaf ears or not. Stage 12 is a long 210.5 km stretch from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende with some challenging category 2 climbs thrown into the mix.