Order was restored on the streets of Italy today when in a bunch gallop Mark Cavendish avoided any potential crashes, avoided any potential hold ups, got his team to do their damn jobs and charged past the rest to cross the line first and win his third stage of the race. The win naturally keeps him in Red and given it was a full bunch sprint it does nothing to upset the balance of power a-top the general classification.
“It’s taken me a week to recover from the crash that I had but every day I’m feeling better and better,” whooped Cavendish after the race, striking fear into his rivals who might dare to think that this is him at his very best. It was a remarkable sprint victory as we got a great look at the raw power the man from the Isle of man and the 2012 Olympic road race champion possesses. At one point, after the sprint had been launched, he free wheeled, waiting for a gap to open, before kicking again to win by over a length.
Once again, I pose the question to the rest of the sprinters. If you aren't going to bring him down, why bother contesting it? Save your legs for the mountains for you've more chance of getting over them than around Cavendish when he's at a level of "feeling better and better."
Tomorrow's stage puts the riders into the high mountains with two tough climbs so it'll be back into the Autobus for Cav and his fellow band of fast men. There's the Col de Joux, a first category climb, followed by another -- up to Cervinia -- where the race will finish. Such a tough finish is sure to shake up the GC and for Canada's (and Garmin's) Ryder Hesjedal it'll be a day of hanging tough with the pure climbers and maintaining the time gaps, if not improving on them.
Sunday is another tough day in the hills. Four categorised climbs including a first cat climb to start it and a second cat climb as a summit finish. That will take the race through the weekend and into it's final week and by the time Monday rolls round we'll have a much better idea of who really is in contention to win this race and what direction it might go.
