Thursday, July 01, 2021
Dutchman van der Poel in yellow
Old star Cavendish races to mass sprint victory
Superstar Mark Cavendish does not miss the last chance for a mass sprint for the time being. The ex-world champion wins in Chateauroux and sets course for the Merckx record. The Dutchman and Poulidor grandson Mathieu van der Poel is still in yellow.
Old star Mark Cavendish has continued his wondrous comeback show and is targeting Eddy Mercks’ age-old record. The 2011 world champion, who has fallen deep in recent years, celebrated his 32nd stage victory in the 108th Tour de France and is only two successes behind the Belgian cycling legend. The 36-year-old Cavendish won the sixth stage of the day after 160.6 kilometers from Tours to Chateauroux, where he had already won a stage twice, ahead of the Belgian Jasper Philipsen and the French Nacer Bouhanni.
While Cavendish also extended his lead in the points classification, his former long-term rival André Greipel no longer plays a major role in the sprints. The 38-year-old had no chance again, the dream of a twelfth stage win no longer seems to be fulfilled.
Cross-country world champion Mathieu van der Poel is still in the yellow jersey. The grandson of tour idol Raymond Poulidor, who died in 2019, is eight seconds ahead of defending champion Tadej Pogacar, who won the individual time trial the day before in an impressive manner. At the latest in the Alps at the weekend, the Slovene should replace the less mountainous van der Poel at the top of the overall ranking. Third overall is Belgian Wout van Aert.
All drivers tested negative
But King Cav made the headlines on Thursday – again. The man from the Isle of Man had already stood before the end of his career last autumn after he had no contract – two and a half years without a win. With the Belgian Deceuninck-Quick-Step-Team, however, he found his way back to his old strength. Almost like in the years 2008 to 2011, when he was hard to beat in the tour sprints.
Roger Kluge had been at the top for a long time. The track bike specialist ran away a good 25 kilometers after the start with Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet. However, the sprinter teams did not let the duo go for more than two minutes, so that they merged again at kilometer 157. After sprint star Caleb Ewan left the race with a broken collarbone, approach driver Kluge can also look for his own chance in the Lotto Soudal team.
In the meantime, all teams could breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to Corona. All 177 drivers and the supervisors were tested negative for the corona virus the day before, as “L’Équipe” wrote. It was the first test since the start. If a team has two Corona-positive drivers within seven days, it will be excluded from the tour. Further tests will take place on the two rest days.
Before heading to the Alps at the weekend, the outliers on the longest stage will have a chance of victory on Friday. 249.1 kilometers are to be covered from Vierzon to Le Creusot. Five mountain classifications in the last third of the stage are unlikely to be feasible for the sprinters. And for the contenders for the overall victory, it is a matter of conserving their strength for the first mountain stages.
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