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Tour de France - stage 11
VATAN > SAINT-FARGEAU, 192 km

Today was a fairly flat stage and saw Johan Van Summeren and Marcin Sapa escape after 24km and opened up a lead of more than 4 minutes over the peloton. The peloton eventually caught them as it got close to the finish and the peloton sped up.

Despite the efforts of the other teams Team Columbia HTC took to the front with 500m to go, with Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar following closely. As soon as Hushovd started to breal for the line Mark Cavendish responded and squeezed past him to take the win, closely followed by Farrar with Hushovd in 5th.

This was Cavendish's 4th win of this Tour and sees him back in the green Jersey. It was also his 8th Tour win and equals Barry Hoban's record for number of stages won by a UK rider.

Italian Rinaldo Nocentini keeps the yellow jersey leading Spain's Alberto Contador by six seconds and Lance Armstrong by eight.

Stage 11 results:

Mark CAVENDISH GBR THR 04:17:55
Tyler FARRAR USA GRM +00:00:00
Yauheni HUTAROVICH BLR FDJ +00:00:00
Oscar FREIRE ESP RAB +00:00:00
Thor HUSHOVD NOR CTT +00:00:00
Leonardo DUQUE COL COF +00:00:00
Gerald CIOLEK GER MRM +00:00:00
Lloyd MONDORY FRA ALM +00:00:00
William BONNET FRA BBO +00:00:00
Nicolaï TRUSSOV RUS KAT +00:00:00

Overall Standings (GC):

Rinaldo NOCENTINI ITA ALM 43:28:59
Alberto CONTADOR ESP AST +00:00:06
Lance ARMSTRONG USA AST +00:00:08
Levi LEIPHEIMER USA AST +00:00:39
Bradley WIGGINS GBR GRM +00:00:46
Andréas KLÖDEN GER AST +00:00:54
Tony MARTIN GER THR +00:01:00
Christian VANDE VELDE USA GRM +00:01:24
Andy SCHLECK LUX SAX +00:01:49
Vincenzo NIBALI ITA LIQ +00:01:54

Green Jersey standings (sprint):

Mark CAVENDISH GBR THR 176
Thor HUSHOVD NOR CTT 169
Jose Joaquin ROJAS ESP GCE 110
Tyler FARRAR USA GRM 110
Gerald CIOLEK GER MRM 100

Polka dot jersey standings (mountain):

Egoi MARTINEZ ESP EUS 79
Christophe KERN FRA COF 59
Franco PELLIZOTTI ITA LIQ 56
Brice FEILLU FRA AGR 49
Pierrick FEDRIGO FRA BBO 49
Overall Standings (GC):[/B]


Tomorrow's stage 12 is TONNERRE to VITTEL, 211.5 km and is slightly hill with a few category 4 and 5 climbs but a fairly flat finish. Altough after 211km will the sprinters have enough energy for a sprint finish?