BATHURST cyclist Mark Renshaw may have been in pain on Monday when he finished stage three of the Tour de France, but he was still wearing a very big smile.
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The burn he felt in his legs came from helping his Dimension Data team-mate Mark Cavendish win the 223.5 kilometre stage from Granville to Angers.
It was the second time in three days that Renshaw had helped his long-time friend win a bunch sprint as he makes a solid start to the 103rd edition of the cycling classic.
The latest win came with an additional slice of history as it moved Cavendish’s tally of Tour de France career stage victories to 28 – equal second with Bernard Hinault on the all-time winners’ list.
“I am incredibly happy with this second win at the Tour de France. We planned it for a long time this morning, we had a long team meeting about how the finish would go and it went pretty much exactly how we planned. It’s good that the guys stayed calm and collected,” Cavendish said.
For much of the stage Renshaw enjoyed a relaxed tempo in the peloton as the day’s break involved just one man, Armindo Fonseca.
Though former yellow jersey holder Thomas Voeckler bridged the gap to join Fonseca with around 70km to go, the peloton was not worried.
The catch came 8km from the finish line in Angers and from there Renshaw and his team-mates did the rest to set up Cavendish.
While Lotto Soudal sprinter Andre Greipel snuck onto Renshaw’s wheel inside the final kilometre, Cavendish was not troubled.
He waited for the German to open the sprint then unleashed himself and lunged on the line to nudge him out in a time of five hours, 59 minutes and 54 seconds.
Renshaw rolled across the line in 28th position as he eased off after his lead out for Cavendish.
“I knew I’d have to come from behind. That’s why when Mark [Renshaw] went I wanted to be behind Greipel,” Cavendish said.
“Mark stayed patient and then at the right minute I was able to get on Andre Greipel’s wheel. I knew he’d hit it early, actually he was stronger than I thought he’d be.
“Andre has guts, he rides like that. I actually didn’t beat him in the sprint, I beat him with the lunge.”
The win moved Cavendish moved into the lead in the green jersey points classification with a total of 123 points. Peter Sagan, the man who currently wears the yellow jersey, is second on 116.
