Sponsored by
Officals rob Cav of green jersey hopes
A DECISION by Tour de France officials to relegate Mark Cavendish on today's 14th stage could have cost him any chance of winning the green jersey.
Cavendish was demoted in a controversial sprint against green jersey Thor Hushovd in which the Norwegian attempted to get past on Cav's right hand side with the crash barriers on Hushovd's right.
Cavendish finished ahead of Hushovd to take 13th place, but it was to be an unlucky number for the Manxman.
Race officials decided that Cavendish had moved to the right as the Norwegian tried to squeeze between him and the barriers and was therefore guilty of what they described as 'irregular sprinting'.
TV replays showed Cavendish drifting very slightly to the right as he looked around to see where Hushovd was.
Cavendish initially looked over his left shoulder, a manouvre which any cyclist will know often causes a rider to drift to the right.
It looked to be a very harsh decision but the Tour de France's chief commissaire told ITV interviewer Ned Boulting that Cavendish had unfairly prevented Hushovd from getting past and the decision to relegate the Manxman from 13th to 154th place was final.
Hushovd said the verdict was correct and that he believed Cavendish had tried to push him into the barriers.
Finishing 13th would have meant Cavendish had closed the gap on Hushovd by one point in the battle for the green jersey.
Cavendish would have scored 13 points and Hushovd 12 meaning that the Norwegian would have a total of 217 to the Manxman's 213.
Being relegated on the stage means Cavendish has 200 points to Hushovd's 218.
The decision by the race officials could have cost Cavendish any chance of winning the green jersey.
But that won't worry Hushovd.
'I was able to pass him, but when he saw me coming he tried to push me into the barriers. It is not a fair game,' said Hushovd.
'I had to brake, I could not pass him.
'If he is faster than me I accept it, but it is not good when you don't follow the rules.'
Cavendish's Columbia-HTC team said that they have no right of appeal so the decision will stand.
'We can't appeal and the decision's already final,' said Columbia-HTC's press officer Kristy Scrymgeour.
Cavendish was fined 200 Swiss francs for the offence, but he will pay a much bigger price than that as with the race heading into the Alps for the next few days there will be very few points on offer for either him or Hushovd.
If Hushovd has an 18 point advantage going into the final stage in Paris he needs only to finish inside the top 10 to win the jersey – even if Cavendish wins the final stage.
There's an outside chance of a bunch sprint on next Friday's stage to Aubenas and realistically Cavendish has to win there to have any chance of taking the green jersey on the Champs Elysees.
There's no word yet on what Cavendish says about today's controversy but he's bound to be fuming - as will his team directors.
Columbia-HTC team managers Brian Holm and Allan Peiper raced in the 80s and 90s against sprinters who got away with offences a million times worse than what Cavendish has been accused of.
Holm and Peiper will remember racing against Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, The Tashkent Terror, who zig zagged his way to nine Tour de France stage wins and won the green jersey after crashing into the barriers on the Champs Elysees in 1991.
'Abdou' regularly squeezed out rivals on the barriers but was very rarily disqualified even though at times it looked like he was trying to do U-turns in the final 100 metres.
Cavendish's sprint looked OK to ITV summariser and former Tour de France rider Paul Sherwen and it will look OK to many other ex-pros.
But it looks as though the decision is final, and it could well have cost Cavendish the green jersey and robbed Tour de France fans of what would have been a thrilling battle between him and Hushovd on the Champs Elysees.
BATTLE FOR THE GREEN JERSEY
CAV vs HUSHOVD – STAGE BY STAGE
Stage 14 – Cavendish finishes 13th, one place ahead of Hushovd, but the Manxman is controversially relegated on the stage after officials judge him to have attempted to push the Norwegian into the barriers. Score so far: Hushovd 218 Cav 200.
Stage 13 - Cav struggles in mountains while Hushovd finishes sixth to take back the green jersey. Score so far: Hushovd 205 Cav 200.
Stage 12 – Cavendish contests the first intermediate sprint of the day and wins ahead of Hushovd. Six points to Cav, four to the Norwegian. All through the race Cavendish has been saying he just wants to win stages and the green jersey would 'just be a bonus'. That smokescreen has gone now, by contesting the intermediate sprints it's clear he and his team want the green jersey. The stage is won by Denmark's Nicki Sorensen who is a minute or so ahead of a breakaway group. The peloton is five minutes behind the winner but Cav wins the bunch gallop for eighth place, one ahead of Hushovd. Cav gets another 18 points, Hushovd 17. Score so far: Cav 200 Hushovd 190.
Stage 11 – Cav is back in green after winning his fourth stage of the Tour. Hushovd gets boxed in on the run in to the uphill finish in Saint-Fargeau and can only finish fifth. Score so far: Cav 176 Hushovd 169.
Stage 10 – Cavendish wins in Issoudun, Hushovd is second and holds on to green jersey but Cav closes gap by five points. Score so far: Hushovd 147 Cav 141.
Stage 9 – The last day in the Pyrennees. Hushovd and Cavendish finish in the same group and neither scores any points. Score so far: Hushovd 117 Cav 106.
Stage 8 – Another mountain stage but Hushovd, who won the green jersey in 2005, shows the benefit of his experience and gets in an early breakaway with Cadel Evans and wins two intermediate sprints before he is dropped. He scores six points in each sprint. At the finish neither Cav nor Hushovd are in the first 15 so score no points. But Hushovd's cheeky move to get in an early break is enough for him to take the lead in the points classification and Cav's six day run in the green jersey (the longest run in green by any British rider) is over. Score so far: Hushovd 117 Cav 106.
Stage 7 - The race heads into the mountains and both sprinters finish out of the points and neither scores any intermediate sprint points so there is no change in the points classification. Cav 106 Hushovd 105.
Stage 6 – Again neither rider gets any intermediate sprint points as a long breakaway takes them all. The break is eventually caught and the race comes down to the third big sprint finish of the Tour so far. Cavendish doesn't get the kind of lead out from his Columbia-HTC team that he got in his two stage wins. Hushovd takes the stage and 35 points and Cavendish gets 10 points for finishing 16th. It's just enough for Cav to hold on to the green jersey by one point. Score so far: Cav 106 Hushovd 105.
Stage 5 – A long breakaway, including stage winner Thomas Voeckler, sweeps up all the intermediate sprint points. Voeckler was almost caught by the peloton in sight of the finish line and Cav wins the bunch sprint to take third place on the stage and bag another 26 points while Hushovd is 10th and earns himself 16 points. Score so far: Cav 96 Hushovd 70.
Stage 4 – Team time-trial. No points are awarded on this stage.
Stage 3 – Again neither rider shows any interest in going for intermediate sprint points and Cav wins stage again and extends lead in points competition with a total of 70 points. Hushovd is second on the stage and moves up from fourth to second in the points classification. Score so far: Cav 70 Hushovd 54.
Stage 2 – Neither rider scores points in intermediate sprints but Cav wins stage and takes 35 points which gives him green jersey. Hushovd scores 24 points by finishing fourth. Score so far: Cav 35 Hushovd 24.
Stage 1 – Both finished out of the points on opening time-trial. Score so far: Cav 0 Hushovd 0.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Isle of Man
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: South
