British sprint star Mark Cavendish won Stage 5 to overcome a Tour de France victory drought, then broke down in tears as he laid bare both the pressure and pride that top-level sport can instill.
He said he had learned to come down from his “cloud” — where both elation and high expectation reside.
PHOTO: EPA
With the pack close of the heels of Cavendish, the overall standings didn’t change on the hot and mostly flat 187.5km trek from Epernay in Champagne country to Montargis.
Fabian Cancellara retained the leader’s yellow jersey. Defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain was 19th in the stage, and seven-time tour winner Lance Armstrong 30th.
With the Tour headed across the flats of northeastern France, sprint specialists like Cavendish get their chance to shine. When the race heads to the Alps starting tomorrow, they’re all but certain to fade into the background — until a new run of flats in the southeast in the second week.
The 25-year-old Briton made it look easy behind a splendid lead-out by his HTC-Columbia teammates, with a time of 4 hours, 30 minutes, 50 seconds — the same as the main pack.
While he had won three stages in races this year — and even won the final Tour stage last year — Cavendish suggested it felt like an eternity since he’d tasted glory.
“It’s incredible, it’s been a long time,” said Cavendish of his win, edging out Gerald Ciolek of Germany into second. “Yesterday wasn’t that great for us. I let the guys down.”
On Tuesday, Cavendish lost out to Alessandro Petacchi — even though the Briton had a near-perfect lead-out from his team — and hurled his bike in frustration afterward.
Cavendish’s image also took a blow earlier this year when he was fined by international cycling’s governing body, UCI, for making a hand gesture that was deemed unsuitable after he won a sprint finish in a Tour de Romandie stage.
Holding his face in his hands and breaking down during a television interview, Cavendish admitted the “pressure was immense,” and said he had “been through a helluva lot” while denying he had thrown his bike down a day earlier.
French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot, who was on hand for the stage, praised Cavendish.
“Only sport can give us scenarios like this,” she said. “The one who was called ‘the bad boy’ for several days, became not only the good boy, but the absolutely superb boy.”
“The tears of Cavendish on the podium, I’m going to remember that,” Bachelot said.
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