Cavendish hails team effort after latest victory

MARK CAVENDISH hailed his team-mates after regaining the green jersey with victory in stage 11 of the Tour de France yesterday – his fourth triumph in 2009.

It was the 24-year-old’s eighth Tour stage win, equalling his British record haul from 2008 and bringing him level with Barry Hoban at the top of the British rankings.

It was a familiar sight at the end of the 192-kilometre route from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau, as Team Columbia-HTC set up Cavendish perfectly for a sprint to the line, and the Manxman praised the efforts of his team-mates for helping him hold off Tyler Farrar’s challenge.

“It’s great,” Cavendish told Eurosport. “It was a hard finish as it was uphill.

“But we knew what we had to do. We knew we had to lead it out, keep it late, leave it to 150.

“So it shows just how great them lads are, just how much they can co-operate and adapt to different situations.

“We knew we had to leave it later today and adapt really quickly so we had four guys on the last km and had to leave it later to go.”

Cavendish said after Tuesday’s victory he could win as many as four more stages, including the Tour finale on July 26 in Paris.

And, after accumulating his 45th professional victory, he reiterated his desire to emerge triumphant on the Champs Elysees.

He added: “There’s only one that matters for me now and I think you all know what that is.”

Farrar was second with Yauheni Hutarovich just behind, while Norway’s Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) finished fifth, allowing Cavendish to regain the points leader’s green jersey.

Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2R) retained the race leader’s yellow jersey, with Astana pair Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong six and eight seconds behind respectively.

Johan Van Summeren and Marcin Sapa made an early break and led the stage for 163km before finally being caught with five km to go.