Mark Cavendish duly won the sprint at Châteauroux brilliantly led in by his HTC team to record his 17th Tour de France stage win. Mark won his first stage here in Châteauroux in 2008 and now only four Tours later he is 8th equal in the list of all time T de F stage winners. What a really remarkable achievement! He does, however, have to win another 17 to equal Eddy Merckx, who racked up an incredible 34 stage victories during his career.
Top 13th all-time stage winners
34: Eddy Merckx (Bel)
28: Bernard Hinault (Fra)
25: André Leducq (Fra)
22: André Darrigade (Fra) (sprinter)
22: Lance Armstrong (USA)
20: Nicolas Frantz (Lux)
19: Francois Faber,( Lux)
17: Jean Alavoine, (Fra)
17: Mark Cavendish (UK)
28: Bernard Hinault (Fra)
25: André Leducq (Fra)
22: André Darrigade (Fra) (sprinter)
22: Lance Armstrong (USA)
20: Nicolas Frantz (Lux)
19: Francois Faber,( Lux)
17: Jean Alavoine, (Fra)
17: Mark Cavendish (UK)
16: Jacques Anquetil (Fra)
16: Charles Pelissier, (Fra)
16: René Le Grèves, (Fra)
15: Freddy Maertens, (Bel)
16: René Le Grèves, (Fra)
15: Freddy Maertens, (Bel)
Mark Cavendish's latest triumph was marred by the crash that took Bradley Wiggins out of this year's Tour with a suspected broken collarbone. A great shame as it looked as if Bradley had really good form and could have had a high place overall. A number of fancied riders for a good overall placing lost over three minutes because of the crash. Who would have bet this morning that on the Tour's flattest stage that a big group would lose so much time. The Tour's unpredictability is one of its attractions.
