Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) won the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France between Limoux and Montpellier in a close sprint finish.
More on Cavendish As usual when the stage is designed for the sprinters, HTC-Highroad took control of the day in hopes of setting up their British sprinter Mark Cavendish. This long stage only featured one climb-a cat-4 called Côte de Villespassans. Riding standard 700c bicycles instead of 650c frames though take a peek at what next week's TT brings

170 riders took to the start after William Bonnet (FdJ) finished outside the time limit on yesterday's stage.

What wasn't surprising is that there was a breakaway at the beginning of stage 15 from Limoux to Montpellier, a leisurely 192 kilometre ride featuring only one Category 4 climb.
Within one kilometer, Niki Terpstra (Quick Step), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) and Anthony Delaplace (Saur Sojasun) had bridged, forming a break-away of 5 riders who, by the 20th kilometer of racing, had an advantage of 3.

Of course, that dream died on the vine before it could ripen and mature in 2004, as the young French champion held on gamely through the Pyrenees before passing the golden fleece to Lance Armstrong as he broke his deadlock with four champions of the past - Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, five-time winners all - to nab his sixth consecutive Tour crown. I'm lucky that I've got a group of guys like I have to keep me out of trouble at the front and that kind of took the pressure off a bit but it's still hard. Around six kilometers remaining, Terpstra looked behind and saw the peloton right behind. HTC's organization and lead out train for Cavendish is now so well drilled and organized as to make it difficult for all but the fastest riders to even get close.

Despite a last gasp breakaway attempt by Philippe Gilbert and the attempts by Garmin and Lampre to break Cavendish's run, his ever-reliable lead-out man Mark Renshaw delivered him in perfect position to claim victory from the fast finishing Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) and Alessandro Petacchi.

He survived the reappearance of the Massif Central in the race for the first time in years.
The Big Losers: All the sprinters in the race who aren't named 'Mark Cavendish'. He managed to squeak home with one minute to spare after Stage 14 into Plateau de Beille. It was now time for all teams to jostle for position.

Once the Alps arrived, though, the yellow slipped from Voeckler's shoulders as he lost nine and a half more minutes on the road to Villard-de-Lans.

With 21ksm to go, Ignatiev and Terpstra attacked out of the break.

A split in the peloton could cost any one, or more, of the overall contenders valuable time, just as it did on the road to La Grande-Motte on the third stage in 2003. HTC began to re-organize their train, keeping the leading duo at 30 seconds until the 6km mark when Ignatiev was caught. He crossed the line in 20th place and remains 10'56″ behind the leader Thomas Voeckler. were the five men to do it and, with the Pyrénées still in the peloton's legs they were allowed to go. At this point, Garmin, Sky, and Lampre were still on the front of the peloton, and it looked like the HTC train and Mark Cavendish may be blocked in.. One last day off for the riders as the Tour enters its second rest day.
GC After Stage 15:

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 65:24:34
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:49
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:06
4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:15
5 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:16
6 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:03:44
7 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:04:00
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:04:01
9 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:05:46
10 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:06:18 . Yet none of them could shake the maillot jaune from their wheels on a bright Saturday afternoon in the Pyrenees.

Europcar is not interested so HTC-Highroad takes control again

With Europcar unwilling to chase too hard, HTC-Highroad put Lars Bak and Danny Pate on the front to keep the gap in check.
650c tyres for the shorter riders
650c tires for the shorter racers

The last two final climbs of today's Tour de France stage defiantly set off some fireworks. All the fans, on the roads and watching from their home patiently waited for someone from the GC to attack. But it was not all bad news for the Australian after he gained 13 seconds on defending champion and pre-race favourite Alberto Contador.

Jelle Vanendert was second ahead of Frank Schleck, who leapfrogged Cadel Evans into second overall.

After 2kms, a break of 6 riders emerged: Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar), Blel Kadri (Ag2R), Geraint Thomas (Sky), Jeremy Roy (FdJ), and Lauren Mangel (Saur-Sojasun).

The bunch was thinned out significantly over the Col du Tourmalet and was almost thinned out even more on the descent of the Col. As brutal as that climb is, the descent is even more terrifying down switch-back roads with massive drops.
“I came here to look at the stage before the Tour and liked the look of it, although I knew it would be pretty hard,” said Rodriguez, whose maiden win on his race debut allowed him to move up one place to eighth overall at 4:58 behind Schleck.

At its maximum, the gap was at 9 minutes after the feed zone, heading into the intermediate sprint.

"It wasn't mechanical, and the second one I had a bit of mud on the tyres. Andy Schleck looked as if he was struggling, but then went to the front of the 20 man peloton to set up Frank.11 later.

Yes, there's still a long way to go."

He held the white jersey for best young rider earlier in the Tour this year but FDJ's Arnold Jeannson of France has taken hold of it.

"It was a special day because I was still recovering from those crashes..” Read more from the AP…
“Contador cuts into Schleck's lead after 12th stage drama
(CNN) - Alberto Contador finished second on the 12th stage of the Tour de France to trim 10 seconds off the lead of yellow jersey leader Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.

"The yellow jersey gives you motivation to go beyond suffering," the Frenchman told reporters. Other big news on the GC contenders is that, three time Tour de France champ, Alberto Contador started to loose contact with other GC contenders such as Evans and Schleck.

First Andy accelerated, drawing an immediate response from Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador and Basso and then it was immediately followed by a counter-puch from Frank Schleck.48 behind Gutierrez, Hoogerland was 20 seconds behind them, and the peloton was 1.”. Thomas was fine and quickly got back on his bike and continued the descent.

There were two real items of interest to come out of today's stage.

Firstly, the form of Thomas Voeckler and his absolute determination to retain the yellow jersey and ensure that it was a Frenchman wearing it on Bastille Day. Europcar and Thomas Voeckler were at the front of the peloton attempting to keep the yellow jersey secure.

The other real surprise was the form of Contador. Chavanel and Kreuziger were 3. His little accident, caused several riders that were in the peloton, one of those being Andreas Kloden (RadioShack).

Germany's Andre Greipel pipped fierce rival and former team mate Mark Canvendish at the line to claim a maiden Tour de France victory on Tuesday.

The stage consisted of four classified climbs—two Category three and two Category four—most crucially a Category four climb about 20km from the end, which was used to try to break the dominance of Mark Cavendish. Four categorized climbs—two cat-3's and two cat-4's—awaited the riders in addition to the intermediate sprint.

The battle was so intense in the last five kilometers that Cavendish was eyeing another victory as no breakaways left to conquer. Furthermore in the group was Philippe Gilbert who currently wears the green jersey as he accelerated in the last kilometer forcing Cavendish team to move faster as they prepare him for the last meters. All riders were able to continue, however.

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He's the best sprinter on the Tour and to be able to beat him is a big moment for me
Andre Greipel on Mark Cavendish
"It's the moment I've been waiting for all year," said Greipel, who rides for the Omega Pharma-Lotto team. I've been working for this all season long.

Greipel is a great sprinter who has won two stages of the Giro d'Italia, four stages of the Vuelta a España, and the points classification in the 2009 edition of the latter race.5kms mark, Vichot was first across the line.

With 16 kilometers to go in the stage, the peloton caught the breakaway, which was much too early for the teams of the sprinters.15 later, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) led the peloton across. I didn't have enough kick I kind of rolled around and Greipel just came faster and beat me," he said. Hoogerland has developed a cult status amongst cycling fans everywhere for his courage in riding with his horrible injuries. Maybe the intermediate sprints are dampening my kick, but I'd love to wear it in Paris.

The 2011 Tour is just getting started. Voeckler did more than enough to hold on to his yellow jersey, as he leads by nearly two minutes.