CAVENDISH BLASTS TO TOUR HAT-TRICK FOR COLUMBIA

Mark Cavendish blasted to his third stage win in the Tour on Thursday, a victory which confirms his overwhelming superiority in the race’s bunch sprints.
For Cavendish stage 12’s win at Narbonne was his tenth road win of the season, and Columbia’s 50th for their men’s team in 2008.

“It makes me very proud to be the first British rider to win three stages in a major Tour.” Cavendish said afterwards.

“It’s nice that I won them in very different weather conditions, too, that makes it more special.”

“That also shows just how good my team are at handling all sorts of sprints and all sorts of situations. I got dropped off on the perfect wheel.”

“So far my total is one stage win out of every seven in the Tour - assuming I don’t win anything else!”

Referring to his crash on Monday’s stage, Cavendish said “I have had a few problems with injuries because of that, but that’s the Tour. Anything can happen. You’ve got to take the pleasure with the pain.”

“I’m tired now, you can see that because I didn’t win by so much this time as I did the other two stages.”

“I don’t know how far I’m going to go this time round. But I’ve got a long career ahead of me, and I’d like to come back some time to the Tour and fight for the green jersey.”

“In any case for now I’m happy to keep going day by day and see how far I can get.”

Discussing the exclusion of Riccardo Ricco from the race, Cavendish said “I’m here for the sporting side of the Tour, not the political side. I’m here to win. But I can see it’s a massive disappointment for the organisers, even if it proves the tests work and at least it’s another person caught.”