Lifelong dream accomplished for green machine Cavendish

Mark Cavendish yesterday completed a lifelong dream by pulling on the Tour de France green jersey.

For the third successive year Cavendish won on the Champs-Elysees, extending his 100 per cent record on Paris’s most famous boulevard and taking his total tally to an incredible 20 stage successes in four years.

Once again the 26-year-old from the Isle of Man dominated the sprints at cycling’s most prestigious race, taking the points classification prize with a total of 334 points, with Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) second, 62 behind.

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Yesterday saw Cavendish take his fifth win of the 2011 Tour – following four in 2008, six in 2009 and five in 2010 – at the end of the 95-kilometre 21st stage from Creteil to the Champs-Elysees.

The stage win was accompanied by the maillot vert, which the HTC-Highroad sprinter has worn since his July 13 win in Lavaur, but had proved elusive in recent years despite his prolific record.

Cavendish said: “Finally. I’m super, super happy. It’s an incredibly emotional day for me.

“It’s the third time I’ve won on the Champs-Elysees but finally to do it in the green jersey and stand on the podium, it’s a massive honour.”

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Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) became the first Australian Tour winner after safely finishing in the pack to win by one minute 34 seconds from Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), with Cavendish also taking his place among the prize winners and becoming the second Briton to stand atop the Tour podium.

Cavendish, who emulated Robert Millar’s 1984 success when the Scot was crowned King of the Mountains, was not content merely to consolidate the 15-point advantage he held at the start of the day, which stretched to 17 at the day’s intermediate sprint.

Despite a bike change soon after the third-lap dash, Cavendish and his HTC-Highroad team were perfectly positioned entering the final 6km lap.

Attempts by other teams to infiltrate the leadout train floundered as the pace set by HTC-Highroad carried Cavendish to the finish.

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After first Matt Goss and then his fellow Australian Mark Renshaw peeled off the front, Cavendish accelerated to the line in the final 200 metres to win by a bike length from Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Andre Greipel, Cavendish’s former team-mate and conqueror of the Manxman on stage 10 to Carmaux, was third, while Rojas finished out of the points in 21st place.

Cavendish paid tribute to his team, who claimed six Tour stage successes in all after Tony Martin’s win in yesterday’s time-trial in Grenoble. He said: “There’s nine of us who rode together this Tour de France – I’m wearing the jersey on behalf of eight other incredible guys.

“We’ve had to work really hard but to be able to get it and win six stages along the way, we’re incredibly happy.”

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The difficulty of the Tour was evident when, along with around half the field, Cavendish was docked 20 points on each of the final two Alpine stages for missing the time cut.

But it was in the Pyrenees where he struggled most, afflicted by a stomach problem.

He added: “As usual I couldn’t really say anything at the time because competitors would take advantage of it, but I got sick at the end of the first week.

“It really took the energy out of me before we got to the Pyrenees. During the stages in the Massif Central and Pyrenees I was really low, but as usual I had an incredible team with me.

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“Bernie Eisel just stood by me. I was actually scared to do the time-trial without Bernie because I’ve been used to seeing him now for 20 days.

“It’s an incredible group of guys. They got me through this Tour and won me the green jersey, so it was worth the hard work.”

The 26-year-old HTC-Highroad sprinter is now equal sixth on the list of all-time Tour stage winners, 14 behind Eddy Merckx’s record.

He added: “That’s not an objective. I’ll just keep trying to win as many as possible.

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“There’s not a number I’d like to win. I’d like to come back and consistently win at the Tour de France.”

The next target for Cavendish is the world champion’s rainbow jersey in Copenhagen in September, while next July he will be favourite for Olympic road race gold.

His future, meanwhile, remains up in the air. Suggestions he has signed for British squad Team Sky appear premature and the future of HTC-Highroad may depend on Cavendish’s presence - any sponsor would like a guaranteed winner in their team.

Cavendish also has a strong bond with his team-mates in the American squad and that is likely to only have strengthened over a victorious last three weeks.

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Asked if he could shed any light on his future, Cavendish said: “No.”

Rotherham’s Ben Swift finished sixth on the first intermediate sprint on yesterday’s final stage.

The 23-year-old, who was cheered onto the Champs Elysees by his family after completing the Tour de France at the first attempt, led a breakaway of six riders to the sprint checkpoint at 59.5km that was won by Kristijan Koren.

Swift and the six-man break were only brought back in the closing stages of the race before he crossed the finish line with the peloton.

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On completing his first Tour, Swift said: “It was good fun today and nice to finally get in a bit of a break. I really enjoyed it out there.

“I absorbed as much as I could and the massive crowds definitely helped me forget about the pain.”

Twenty-four hours earlier the Team Sky rider stopped the clock seven minutes and 14 seconds down on individual time-trial winner Tony Martin.

Swift finished 137th in the general classification, 3hrs 18min 7secs behind yellow jersey winner Evans.

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