THEIR main man might be out of the action, but Mark Renshaw showed what he is capable of when given the chance as he finished third in Monday night’s third stage of the Tour de France.
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With Mark Cavendish out of the race after his heavy fall on day one of three opening stages in England, Renshaw found himself in the unusual position of being Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s main man in London.
It was his first podium finish at the world’s biggest cycling event since he finished second to Cavendish on the final stage of the 2008 race.
As the field headed into the middle of the city following a 155-kilometre journey from Cambridge, it took two of the sport’s biggest superstars to deny the Bathurst rider.
German Marcel Kittel, who has arguably overtaken Cavendish as the best sprinter on the planet, took the victory, while Slovakian two-time green jersey winner Peter Sagan was second.
On a flat stage that was always likely to come down to a bunch sprint just a stone’s throw away from Buckingham Palace, Renshaw was in almost uncharted waters as he had the services of a couple of team-mates to help him to the line.
Veteran prolific stage winner Alessandro Petacchi and time trial specialist Tony Martin both took over Renshaw’s usual role as a lead-out man and tried to position him well for the finish.
They did their job, but Kittel is in a rich vein of form and added to his win on stage one, having few problems holding on for the victory even with someone as strong as Sagan on his back wheel.
After the finish, Renshaw acknowledged his team as well as the quality of those who beat him home.
“I didn’t come here to sprint, I came here to lead out Mark Cavendish and things had to change after he had that crash,” he told AAP.
“[They were] big shoes to fill, but I’m pretty happy to be third to those guys. Third to Kittel and Sagan is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Cavendish’s campaign came to an abrupt halt on day one when he tangled with another Australian and multiple Tour stage winner, Simon Gerrans.
In an incident not dissimilar to the one in which Renshaw was kicked out of the Tour in 2010 when he was found guilty of head-butting New Zealander Julian Dean, the two riders ended up on the pavement.
Cavendish suffered a dislocation in his collarbone, leaving his team with a decision to make about how to approach their Tour, and they responded by moving to the front as things started to ramp up in the last five kilometres on Monday night.
Renshaw was grateful for the help he got, but admitted too that nothing was set in stone with regards to who the team will be riding for from here on in.
“It shows we’ve pulled together really well,” Renshaw said.
“[But] we’ll see what happens. There’s a lot of racing to come and we’ve got some great riders in the team that will take chances now. My legs are good.
“It’s never easy and there are so many teams at such a high level these days. There are three or four teams who can do great lead-outs. That’s why we have to be happy with third place and stay optimistic.
“Our Tour de France isn’t over. We’ve got to fight in the other sprints and we’ve also got Michal Kwiatkowski for overall and Tony Martin for the time trial.”
Italian Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall race lead after finishing safely in the main group.
Overnight, the field headed into France for the first time on a 163.5-kilometre journey from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille Metropole.
