Mark Cavendish likes to believe that, in bike racing, it is him against the world. He has an army of “doubters”, he says, “and they know who they are”. But if anyone would like to come out of hiding, now is the time because you have motivated the world’s best sprinter so well that he can win going uphill, too.
Honestly, Cav, there is no one who doubts you. And surely there cannot be now, not after this astonishing victory on the Breton cliffs yesterday. Down below you, there was a postcard yellow beach, in front of you was the win and behind you was an entire peloton that respected your talent but many of whom thought: “This one, at least, must be too hard for you.”
And, actually, Cavendish doubted it himself. He said so afterwards. He looked at the contenders that were assembling and the rise in the road in those last few hundred yards and none of the flat bunch sprinters were there. Guys like him — Tyler Farrar, Alessandro Petacchi, absent all. It was too hard for them. Instead it was the sprinters with less fast-twitch pace but more strength: Thor Hushovd, Philippe Gilbert, José Rojas.
As Cavendish said afterwards, he did not expect to win it, he just thought he would compete to get some points.
So when he saw Geraint Thomas break for the front, he followed him out. A group of five were hurtling shoulder to shoulder up the final incline; with 200 metres to go, the opening was there and he accepted it. He reeled in Thomas, then Rojas and all that remained was the rider with the best form in the world this year, Gilbert, and on the line, Cavendish took the Belgian, too. Brilliant finish.
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“It’s always sweet to silence ignoramuses,” he said later, getting back to the subject of his doubters.
And OK, before yesterday, there was one sure-fire way to annoy Cavendish and that was to suggest that he could not handle a climb, that he could not move fast uphill. Doubters could gather round that titbit of weakness; but even that is eradicated now.
All that is left is Cavendish versus the peloton, riders such as André Greipel, who pushed him with two kilometres to go, or Rojas and Tom Boonen, who cut straight across his line on the intermediate sprint, or entire teams such as Garmin, who know they have not got the basic raw pace to match, so they have to toy with his team, HTC- Highroad, their tactics, anything other than a straight bike race. That is why Cavendish’s win yesterday was so resounding, because despite everything, he still crossed that line first.
A host of big-name riders had hopes of a smooth day damaged by a series of crashes. Bradley Wiggins was held up by a collision involving ten riders about 65 miles from the finish and had to change his bike. In another incident Alberto Contador, the defending champion, also took a tumble, while a worse fate befell Janez Brajkovic, the Slovenian leader of the RadioShack team, whose injuries forced him to abandon the Tour altogether.
Five hours earlier in Carhaix, before the start of the stage, the HTC team bus had parked up and in the team meeting, the battle plan for the day, it was this kind of adversity that they discussed. In particular, they discussed Garmin, referred to generally as “they”.
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“As long as we stay on one side of the road, we won’t get swamped by them,” Cavendish said.
“You need 1½ metres on one side of the road,” Bernhard Eisel said.
“If Petacchi [of Team Lampre] does that again, comes up the inside when there’s ten centimetres, I’m going to crack him,” Mark Renshaw said. “He needs to learn some respect.”
But primarily, the subject was the lead-out train. The train has long been HTC’s strength, a sequence of riders taking Cavendish through the danger of the last few kilometres before peeling off at the last minute to deliver him as fresh as possible to contend the last 100-odd yards.
But the opposition know the HTC train too well now. Garmin have tried to swamp it; others have tried to catch the end of it. And on Monday, as Brian Holm, the team director, said, the HTC riders had gone out too early.
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“Don’t panic, don’t panic,” Cavendish told the troops. “Start the whole lead-in late.”
But being a coastal road finish, Holm said, crosswinds would be a problem. The peloton could split. “So everyone has to stay up there at the front all the time,” he said.
This was agreed. Lead from the front. But there was a final request from Tony Martin, the German. “Can we get the info from Erik early? It always gets really stressful late when you cannot hear it,” he said.
This, possibly, was the key. Erik Zabel won the Tour’s green jersey — for the leading sprinter — six consecutive times from 1996. His job with HTC now is to drive ahead, study the finish and phone back to the team on the road with a report on what he has seen.
Yesterday, he spent nine minutes explaining that the finish was nothing like its description in the road book. Yes, it had twists and turns, but, he said, the riders did not need to break, the bends are not that tight.
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More importantly, he said, it was not remotely flat. There was a steep downhill from a mile out, and then uphill from 1,100 metres. His advice: do not hit the front before the downhill because everyone else will sweep past; instead stay smooth and move around the leaders from the bottom. But even Zabel had doubts about whether Cavendish could pull this off. Because of the uphill finish, he said, “It’s right on Cav’s limit.”
Sure enough, the HTC train did not hit the front before the downhill. A key part of the train, though, had already been derailed. Renshaw, who sticks with Cavendish to the last, had lost his position on the peloton.
But Cavendish stayed on the wheel of Matt Goss as far as possible, sweeping down the hill in the exact position that Zabel had advised and up the other side until Goss could carry him no farther.
Oh yes, that is another one for the doubters. There have been those who say that Cavendish cannot do it without the train. But it was not a train yesterday, it was more like a tandem. And when Goss left him, Cavendish had to do it on his own.
Solo and uphill. Do not doubt the man.
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• Stage six: Dinan to Lisieux, 226km The longest stage of the race, across rolling terrain, that climaxes with a short, sharp climb to the finish. Another Cav-fest is possible, but Philippe Gilbert is a more likely contender for honours.
Green jersey contenders
Philippe Gilbert (Bel, Omega) and José Rojas (Sp, Movistar): The green jersey is intended for the best sprinter but this year there are so many uphill sprint finishes, it may go to a different type of athlete. Gilbert has the green jersey at present. Rojas, 26, is young, punchy and was stripped of his intermediate points yesterday for riding across Mark Cavendish.
Tyler Farrar (US, Garmin): Won his first bunch sprint on Monday. He and Garmin are on a roll and are the ones that Cavendish’s team fear the most.
Alessandro Petacchi (It, Lampre): Old warrior who won the green jersey last year. Has not shown in the sprints this year and clearly prefers a straightforward classic bunch sprint.
Thor Hushovd (Nor, Garmin): Controversially took the green jersey from Cavendish in 2009 when Cavendish was docked points for dangerous riding. Cavendish still feels wronged by that.
Result and leading positions
Fifth stage (Carhaix to Cap Fréhel, 164.5km): 1, M Cavendish (GB, HTC-Highroad) 3hr 38min 32sec; 2, P Gilbert (Bel, Omega Pharma-Lotto); 3, J J Rojas (Sp, Movistar); 4, T Gallopin (Fr, Cofidis); 5, G Thomas (GB, Team Sky); 6, A Greipel (Ger, Omega Pharma-Lotto); 7, S Hinault (Fr, AG2R); 8, W Bonnet (Fr, FDJ); 9, D Oss (It, Liquigas); 10, T Hushovd (Nor, Garmin-Cervélo); 11, C Evans (Aus, BMC); 12, A Klöden (Ger, RadioShack); 13, A Jeannesson (Fr, FDJ); 14, S O’Grady (Aus, Leopard-Trek); 15, J van den Broeck (Bel, Omega Pharma-Lotto). Other British: 18, B Wiggins (Team Sky); 40, D Millar (Garmin-Cervélo); 104, B Swift (Team Sky) all same time.
Leading positions: Overall: 1, Hushovd 17:36:57; 2, Evans at 1sec behind; 3, F Schleck (Lux, Leopard-Trek) 4; 4, Millar 8; 5, Klöden 10; 6, Wiggins same time; 7, Thomas 12; 8, E Boasson Hagen (Nor, Team Sky); 9, J Fuglsang (Den, Leopard-Trek); 10, A Schleck (Lux, Leopard-Trek) all same time; 11, T Martin (Ger, HTC-Highroad) 13; 12, P Velits (Slovakia, HTC-Highroad) same time; 13, C Horner (US, RadioShack) 18; 14, L Leipheimer (US, RadioShack) same time; 15, R Gesink (Neth, Rabobank) 20. Other British: 46, Swift 2min 6sec; 81, Cavendish 4:22.
King of the mountains: 1, Evans 2pts; 2, Gilbert 1; 3, M Delage (Fr, FDJ) 1; 4, J Hoogerland (Neth, Vacansoleil-DCM) 1; 5, A Delaplace (Fr, Saur-Sojasun) 1.
Young rider: 1, Thomas 17:37:09; 2, Boasson Hagen same time; 3, Gesink 8; 4, C Gautier (Fr, Europcar) 46; 5, E Silin (Russ, Katusha) 1min. Other British: 9, Swift 1:54.
Team: 1, Garmin-Cervélo 52:01:31; 2, Team Sky at 2sec; 3, Leopard-Trek 4.