tattoo empek empek

GERAINT THOMAS unwittingly helped Mark Cavendish to a stage victory for the second time in this year's Tour de France, in yesterday's rain-soaked finish in Lavaur.

Wales' Olympic track king replicated his performance on stage five to Cap Frehel by leading the peloton in the closing stages.

And Cavendish, who is expected to join Thomas' Team Sky in a massive deal for next year, latched himself on to the back wheel of his pal.

Thomas was hoping to lead Sky sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen to a second stage victory, but it was the Manx Missile who benefited.

"I didn't do it intentionally – he obviously knew mine was a good wheel to follow," quipped Thomas.

The Maindy Flyers and Cardiff Jif product has been dubbed the "best lead-out rider in the world" by Sky boss Dave Brailsford and was again praised by Olympic legend Chris Boardman for his efforts in yesterday's 11th stage.

Cavendish's HTC-Highroad colleague Mark Renshaw took over from Thomas before the Isle of Man speedster accelerated to out-gun stage 10 winner Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo).

Cavendish easily held on to his lead against the charging Greipel, who was looking to pull off another upset win after pipping his rival the previous day.

"When the guys ride like they did on Tuesday and I don't finish the job it's hard to take," said Cavendish afterwards.

"Then I go out the next stage and make sure I win. I just went. I said I'd kick and when I kick I normally get a gap. I made the mistake of not hitting it hard on Tuesday.

"My strength is my acceleration and, if I do that, I get a gap and can hold it."

It was Cavendish's 18th Tour de France stage win in four years to move him up to seventh on the race's all-time list of stage winners. He also claimed the points classification leader's green jersey from Belgium's Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto).

The 26-year-old, who has also been dubbed the 'Human Caven-ball', accumulated four wins in 2008, six in 2009 – the last time he donned the maillot vert – five in 2010 and now three in 2011, with 10 stages to race.

He revealed his latest victory came despite having to adjust his shoe in the final 600m of the 167.5-kilometre stage from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur.

Cavendish's foot had accidentally brushed against the front wheel of Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) – a man the Briton described earlier in the Tour as "kamikaze" – undoing the Manxman's buckle.

"I had to reach down and slide the ratchet (buckle) and re-do it. It could have been quite dangerous," he said.

"But there was nothing intentional, nothing dangerous between Feillu and me.

"It just so happened it was him – it could have been anyone else in the situation."

The Tour headed for the Pyrenees today, so Cavendish's next chance of glory will come en-route to the Alps on Sunday.

Stage 11 (Blaye-les-Mines – Lavaur, 167.5 km) selected results: 1, Mark Cavendish (Gbr) HTC-Highroad 3hrs 46mins 07secs; 2, Andre Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto same time; 3, Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo same time; 24, Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Sky Procycling same time.

General classification after stage 11: 1, Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 45hrs 52mins 39secs; 2, Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank at 1min 49secs; 3, Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC at 2.26; 31, Thomas at 5mins 51secs.

'); tm.siteLife.daapi.getArticle( "54-91466-29049759", function(article){ tm.siteLife.display.displayCommentCount( article, 'sitelife-commentsWidget-middle', false, 'Comments', true, false ); } ); })();//call anonymous function //]]>