LA GRANDE MOTTE, France, (Reuters) – Briton Mark Cavendish criticised the tactics of rival teams after winning his second Tour de France stage in succession yesterday.
“When you ride like juniors, you get results like juniors,” Cavendish told reporters, referring to the other sprinters’ teams who appeared to conserve energy for Tuesday’s time-trial.
His Columbia team-mates led a decisive move on the windswept 196.5-kms stage from Marseille which caught most of the race favourites off-guard 30 kms from the finish.
Taking turns to lead the break as if gearing up for yesterday’s team time trial, the Briton’s team mates, along with Lance Armstrong and overall leader Fabian Cancellara, took 41 seconds off most of the other leading contenders.
“It was not really tactical. We did not initiate this. No other team worked and we just happened to be at the front when the wind changed,” he said.
Cavendish said he was convinced staying back was the wrong tactic.
“The other teams eventually had to ride hard anyway just to close the gap,” he said. “We used a lot of energy but it paid off. We got to stage wins.”
The win strengthened Cavendish’s points classification leader’s green jersey and his team mate, German Tony Martin, climbed to second in the overall standings, 33 seconds behind Cancellara.
“It was awesome, the best team effort I was part of in my 10 years as a pro,” said Australian Michael Rogers.
