BRITAIN'S record-breaking cyclist Mark Cavendish has pulled out the Tour de France ahead of the mountain stages.
The 23-year-old has won four stages in this year's race, each time in a last-ditch sprint to the finish, becoming the first Briton in history to claim more than two victories in a single year.
As expected, he struggled during previous stages in th
e Pyrenees, and with the Tour climbing into the Alps yesterday afternoon, he has decided not to jeopardise his Olympic hopes next month by pushing himself through more misery in the mountains.
After victories on stages five, eight, 12 and 13, the racer from the Isle of Man was too tired to pull himself to the front of the peloton on Saturday and finished over three minutes behind sprint winner Oscar Freire.
After the stage, Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton admitted Cavendish would "seriously consider" pulling out before yesterday's Alpine opener. Stapleton said: "He is clearly very tired. I think we have to seriously consider him stepping out. It's important for us that he is part of that decision so we'll talk with him when he feels better."
And yesterday, Stapleton added: "We spoke to him last night to see how he felt. Even halfway during that he was very fatigued. It was very difficult for him to get over the Alps. Why take any physical risks and put a workload on his body?"
Cavendish will now have plenty of time to recover ahead of his participation in the Madison event at the Beijing Games.
The Tour carried on regardless without the Briton, and yesterday's action saw Frank Schleck wrestle the yellow jersey from the grip of Cadel Evans as the race favourite suffered badly on the summit finish to Prato Nevoso.
CSC's Schleck, who trailed Evans by one second going into the 15th stage from Embrun, takes a seven-second lead in the general classification from Bernhard Kohl, who headed home the chasing pack behind the breakaway group.
Kohl, of Gerolsteiner, finished fifth in the stage ahead of Schleck, ninth, and the Austrian has a one-second advantage over Evans, who drops to third overall.
As Evans toiled in yellow, his fellow Australian Simon Gerrans rode the perfect ascent up Prato Nevoso to outfox his fellow escapees and win the 183km stage by three seconds from Egoi Martinez. The 28-year-old Credit Agricole rider sat on the wheel of Danny Pate and Martinez, and kicked away in the final metres.
Martinez, King of the Mountains at the 2006 Vuelta a Espana and a better climber, appeared to be in the box seat when the trio entered the last 300m of the 11.1km climb to the Italian ski station, but he could not respond when Gerrans made his move.
The escapees benefited from several crashes in the peloton, most notably to third-placed Christian Vandevelde, and 2006 Tour winner Oscar Pereiro, who was forced to retire with a broken femur and shoulder.
Gerrans only took up cycling at 17 as rehabilitation after smashing his knee in a motocross accident. During his treatment, the swimmer and motorbike rider met former Tour de France yellow jersey holder Phil Anderson who encouraged him to go ahead with cycling. "I've gone from really starting riding a bike to heal my knee to winning a Tour de France stage. It's an amazing journey," he said.
"We have a fantastic group of Australians living in the south of France and in Monaco, a little community who encourage each other as we go along.
"We really have a group of friends there. I hope they will be happy for me," he said before adding that he believes compatriot Evans can regain the yellow jersey.
"Of course, I'd love to see Cadel win the Tour. Our sport is growing and growing in Australia. I'm just amazed to see so many Australians on the roadside here," he said.
The full article contains 673 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
