Yesterday was one of the very rare occasions over the past four Tours where Mark Cavendish has lost the sprint once he has hit the front of the pack. Mark lost by a wheel length to German sprinter André Griepel, who won his first Tour de France Stage at Carmaux. Did Mark misjudge the sprint or was the absence of the HTC train at the end too big a disadvantage or did he have to expend too much energy keeping up when Philippe Gilbert went hard on the last climb of the day?
Whatever happened Cavendish did pick up a number of points in the Green Jersey competition. Philippe Gilbert leads with 226 points, Rojas has 209 and Cavendish 197.
Today's stage is again quite short at 167.5k from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur. With no major difficulties it may well come down to a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish will be keen to get revenge for yesterday but Griepel will be keen to repeat yesterday's success. From tomorrow the Tour hits the high mountains, so the sprinters' only remaining options are the stage to Montpellier and the final on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
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