Cavendish claims stage as Irish duostay out of trouble

Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and Nicolas Roche (Ag2R La Mondiale) steered clear of trouble on yesterday’s second stage of the Tour de France and crossed the line in the same time as stage winner Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling).

The Irish duo received a further fillip when they moved up one place to 23rd and 24th respectively, on the overall General classification, with Martin now 24 seconds behind race-leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) and Roche a further second back.

Roche was 52nd on the 207 kilometre pan-flat trek from Visé to Tournai in Belgium while Martin came home in 145th place, sensibly deciding not to contest a hectic sprint.

As expected it was Sky’s Mark Cavendish, who claimed his 21st Tour stage win, outsprinted André Greipel (Lotto Belisol Team) and Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team) in the final few hundred metres.

Cavendish, now sixth behind Eddy Merckx on the list of all-time Tour stage winners and one behind Lance Armstrong, is now second behind Peter Sagan in the race for the green Points jersey.

“I had to leave it a little bit late but I should have gone earlier...I really had to lunge for the line,” said the 27-year-old.

Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) retained the race leader’s yellow jersey, with Bradley Wiggins second overall, still 10 seconds clear of defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing). All three finished safely in the main bunch.

Interestingly it was the first time Cavendish has won a stage of the Tour outside France but he preferred to talk down his prospects of retaining the green jersey.

“I’m not really chasing (the green jersey) this year. I’ll keep it in the back of my mind and go for every opportunity but I’m not going to put myself in the ground for it.

“It’s not possible to chase the green jersey alone so I’m just trying to get the stages and then see.

“I’ll go for the intermediates but I’m not going to chase down breaks to go for it. It’s about minimising points lost really.”

Assessing the stage itself, a typically tough early day in the Tour, he added: “It was so hectic. If it had just been sprinters it would have been okay but every type of climber and GC rider was at the finish.”