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And the Cav to Garmin-Cervelo rumours gather pace!

Cavendish and Millar having fun on Twitter.

Tour de France, Stage 15. Mark Cavendish beats Tyler Farrar to the stage win

Another sprint stage, another HTC-led Cavendish win. This one giving him a 70-odd point lead at the top of the Green classification standings. I’d say that the Green jersey is now his to throw away; make it through the alps and he should be wearing it on the final podium, no?

Today was one of those days where the breakaway (again, containing a team member of FDJ; they’ve been in every single breakaway this year) led out for most of the race, only to be caught at the end and for the peloton to contest a bunch sprint. There’s only ever going to be one winner in those circumstances, so it wasn’t the most enthralling stage.

What caught my attention today, before, during and after the race took place, was the tidal wave of paranoia that has infested this year’s Tour de France. Fans and competitors alike  have mumbled and groaned throughout, reaching a climax over the past 48 hours.

If it’s not Cavendish moaning about Roman Feillu or ASO, then it’s fans accusing commentators of bias; if it’s not Philippe Gilbert and José Joaquin Rojas accusing of Cavendish of cheating by being towed by race cars, then it’s fans arguing over who loves the sport most; if it’s not Frank Schleck complaining about other riders “not trying”, then it’s fans declaring that cyclists are definitely doping (what happened to innocent until proven guilty?)

All this makes it difficult to like and to get emotionally involved in a genuinely thrilling and exciting sport.

Although, perhaps those that proclaim to love the sport more than I do don’t need me to.

Tour de France, Stage 11. Mark Cavendish puts on the Green jersey for the first time in 2011

Tour de France, Stage 10. Andre Greipel takes his maiden Tour stage win

Today started being about several men: how would Hoogerland and Flecha (among others) cope with their injuries?; how would Voeckler go about defending his jersey?; would Gilbert keep adding to his Green jersey lead?

In the end, it came down to the tape, and to two men: Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish. On the line, Greipel just edged it and was a worthy winner.

What’s not been said though, is that - as far as I can tell - Greipel doesn’t hate Cavendish; and Cavendish doesn’t hate Greipel. Their circumstances have made them rivals but trying to make it anything more than that changes it from enthralling sport to catty sideshow. 

Tour de France, Stage 5. Mark Cavendish out-sprints Philippe Gilbert - and others - to take the stage.

Who should we talk about today?

Hushovd, still holding onto the yellow jersey? Jeremy Roy, showing himself in a break, yet again? What about the crashes? Well, we could be here all day if we were to go through each one. Suffice to say that a lot of the peloton was on the tarmac at one point or another.

No, I think I’ll choose Mark Cavendish as my pic of the day. Not necessarily because he won the stage (his 16th at the Tour to date, making him the 9th most successful stage winner of all time) but because of the type of sprint he won.

It’s probably not far wrong to say that 8 of Cavendish’s last 9 Tour stage wins were as a result of the HTC train; that is, his teammates propelling him aerodynamically into a position where he could launch a last minute burst of speed. Today, this didn’t happen; he did it himself, albeit on the wheel of Sky’s Geraint Thomas, on an uphill finish. At the end, he told reporters:

“I didn’t expect it to be so hard at the finish. The guys there were not really bunch sprinters, but strong guys like Philippe, Thor or Geraint Thomas.  

“I was kind of surprised to win. Most times I win with a margin, this time I had to give it everything I had. It will take a few days to recover.”

Mark Cavendish

La Vuelta a España has been running for a few days now and we’ve seen 5 of the 21 stages.  The biggest news (perhaps) so far is the illness that swept through the Team Sky camp and resulted in the withdrawal of both John-Lee Augustyn and Ben Swift.  

That’s one of the Brits gone already!

The event started with another of the Brits sprinting to victory.  Mark Cavendish (who else?) then kept hold of the leader’s jersey for another stage before handing it over to Phillipe Gilbert, who has kept hold of it ever since.

My two tips for victory aren’t doing too bad, although one is certainly doing better than the other:  Luis León Sánchez is 17th, 1m 21s back, but Joaquim Rodríguez is up in 3rd, only 10s behind Gilbert.

More over the next few days.

As I said below, la Vuelta a España starts tonight.  But who should we look out for?  Well, I won’t pretend to be an expert in Pro Cycling, but the favourites must come from a select list which includes the two Spaniards Luis León Sánchez and Joaquim Rodríguez.  In the last 10 years, the Vuelta has been won by a Spaniard on 7 occasions.  The other three times saw two Russian victories (both Denis Menchov) and a Kazakh (Alexandre Vinokourov). 

‘Where are the Brits?’, I hear you ask.  Well, there are a few:  David Millar, Mark Cavendish, Peter Kennaugh (above), Ian Stannard and Ben Swift.  The final three in that list all ride for Team Sky, and it will be interesting to see if Kennaugh, in particular survives the duration as it’s the 21-year old’s first Grand Tour.

Updates over the next couple of weeks.