Mark Cavendish wins sixth stage

GUEUGNON, FRANCE: Briton Mark Cavendish of the HTC-Columbia team won the sixth stage of the Tour de France, with Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara retaining the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Cavendish was expertly led into a sprint finish by teammate Mark Renshaw and came in ahead of American Tyler Farrar and Italian Alessandro Petacchi, with Australian Robbie McEwen in fourth. A three-man breakaway formed early in the 227.5-kilometre stage from Montargis, but despite their lead reaching a significant eight minutes by the 60km mark the collective strength of the peloton gradually prevailed.

With 73kilometre to ride the lead of Spanaird Ruben Perez Moreno, German Sebastian Lang and France’s Mathieu Perget had more than halved.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2010.