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.

Also at 25 km remaining, on the final ascent of the stage, Champion (ALM) decided it was time to make an attack of his own, and escaped the peloton, quickly followed by Charteau (BTL); but in the meantime, Perget had mounted an attack of his own, leaving the other front riders in his wake after reaching the final summit. A few kilometers later he was recaptured by the other four riders to create a breakaway group of five. At the 15 km to go mark, they had a slim lead of 20 seconds. Despite their best efforts and some very determined riding, their inevitable demise came at 10 km out as they were finally absorbed into the mass of other riders.

The reeastablishment of the single group signalled the jostling for position of the sprint groups, and Stage 6 saw several teams getting better organised than in Stage 5. The leaders of General Classification for Yellow Jersey, including Contador, reached the front to start the lead out for their respective teams, but also to stay out of trouble as the shuffling for prime position continued.

HTC-Columbia had rider lined up and went ahead of Lampre, but tactics were the order of the day for Garmin, who began inserting riders into the HTC pack to disrupt there final approach. At the final bend, Garmin had riders in the lead with Dean and Hunter, Dean acting as lead. As Hunter ducked out to contest the final sprint, Renshaw led Cavendish through on the right in another inspired piece of riding, to drop Cav off at under 200 meters to go. Cavendish hit the turbo and bombed it to the line, with other riders coming through (Petacchi for Lampre and Farrar for Garmin-Transitions), and won his second consecutive stage easily. Job done.

(Photo: Mark Cavendish, by Vlaam. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

In a twist at the end, the pack split into two groups, with the first 14 riders awarded the same time, and the following group given a time 3 seconds behind. This does not change any of the classifications, and so Cancellara remains the Yellow Jersey holder, Hushovd keeps Green Jersey (after coming in 10th position in Stage 6); Pineau keeps Polka Dot Jersey and Thomas keeps White Jersey, but enjoyed taking part in the sprint today, finishing in the leading group and getting 3 seconds closer to Cancellara for Yellow.

The result after Stage 6 look like this:

So another great day for Cavendish, the Manx Missile, who now has a tally of 12 stage wins in Tours de France since he began contesting them in 2007.

Stage 7 is the first of the challenging mountain stages, so don’t expect to see the sprinters feature two heavily for the next few days. The cycling shirt to keep your eyes peeled for now is the Polka Dot Jersey currently held by Pineau.

In identical fashion to yesterday’s stage, HTC-Columbia dispatched Sivtsov to the head of the chasing group to keep the three race leaders from escaping completely. During the course of this stage, the HTC-Columbia did the lion’s share of the chasing, the other teams content to fall in behind and let HTC carry the fight. O’Grady (SAX) did work on behalf of the peloton eventually, helping out Sivstov, and pulling back substantial time on the breakaway.

As they got closer to the finale, both Teams Lampre and Cervelo stepped up to assist in pulling the leading trio back into the pack, but as they got within 20 seconds, Gutiérrez mounted an attack, flying from third place and into the lead, the other two riders unable to persuade their legs to match the new pace. Eventually, with the race down to just the Spaniard and the peloton, Gutiérrez’s legs gave up at 4 km out and he was caught. This set the scene for another sprinters’ showdown, after yesterday’s superbly timed attack by Petacchi.

(Photo of Mark Cavendish, by Bryan Green Photography.)

After a second consecutive stage of the Tour where the entire HTC-Columbia team has sweated bullets, grafting to keep the race alive for a group sprint finish, Cavendish had most to prove. The team had amassed members at the head of the peloton, but were out-manoeuvred by Garmin who grabbed the right hand lane en masse. As lead in man for HTC, Eisel, realized he was leading the wrong team, he eventually dropped off, and Mark Renshaw took over the job of delivering Cavendish to the front, and did an inspired job, shouldering two other team riders to box them in and open the door for Cav to dive out, 240 meters from the line. The sprint was on, and Cavendish was never going to be caught, despite being pushed by Ciolek (MRM) and Boasson Hagen (SKY).

Job done and both the strain and the relief burst forth in a flood of tears from Cavendish during his podium ceremony for winning his 1st stage of the Tour de France 2010 – his 11th stage win in the Tour so far.

Stage 5 was purely one for the sprinters, so the overall General Classification remains unchanged. The Stage 5 results are as follows:

Cycling shirt awards remain unchanged after Stage 5 today, with Cancellara in the Yellow Jersey for the next stage, Hushovd in the Green Jersey, Pineau in the Polka Dot Jersey and Thomas in the White Jersey.

Tomorrow takes the riders to Stage 6 and another, final sprinters’ stage before they hit the Alps at the weekend. At 227.5 km, this is another long one, from Montargis to Gueugnon. As for today, it’s great to see Cav back to his winning ways after picking up no less than 6 sprint stage wins in the Tour last year!