Cavendish defeats Greipel to take green jersey

Mark Cavendish

PARIS,  (Reuters) – Mark Cavendish defeated  fierce rival Andre Greipel to win the 11th stage of the Tour de  France yesterday and snatch the green jersey in the process.

Mark Cavendish

Briton Cavendish was set up perfectly by his team mate Mark  Renshaw in the final stretch, prevailing one day after losing to  Greipel to claim his 18th victory on the Tour after a 167.5-km  effort from Blaye les Mines.

American Tyler Farrar was third as Thomas Voeckler of  France, who spent a quiet day in the peloton, retained the  overall leader’s yellow jersey.

A six-man breakaway built a 4:30 gap and kept the peloton at  bay until four kms from the finish.

Dutchman Lars Boom tried his luck just before the other  fugitives were reeled in but he had to surrender two kms from  the line.

The sprinters’ teams took the matter in their own hands and  once again, it was the HTC-Highroad train that took control in  the last kilometre.

Cavendish survived a failing buckle on his shoe to win again  and the Manxman took the lead in the points classification  standings with 251 points. Spain’s Jose Joaquin Rojas has 235  points.