Head-butt helps Mark Cavendish win 11th stage of Tour, Andy Schleck keeps overall lead

Cavendish wins 11th stage, Schleck in yellow

BOURG-LES-VALENCE, France — Sprint specialist Mark Cavendish won the 11th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday with help from an illegal head-butt from a teammate, and Andy Schleck retained the overall race lead.

Cavendish collected his third stage win in this year’s Tour on the 114.6-mile trek from Sisteron to Bourg-les-Valence, which featured one mid-grade climb and favored sprinters.

The British star got a bit of late-stage help from his HTC Columbia teammate and lead-out man Mark Renshaw, who head-butted Tyler Farrar’s lead-out man three times in an apparent bid to push him out of the way during the final sprint.

Renshaw then appeared to swerve in front of Farrar, the American sprinter for Garmin Transitions. That helped Cavendish hold off Alessandro Petacchi of Italy to the finish line, while Farrar finished third in the same time of 4 hours, 42 minutes, 29 seconds.

Tour organizers said Renshaw was expelled from the race for his aggressive riding.

“Mark Renshaw fought to prevent the lane from being closed on him,” Cavendish said after his 13th career Tour stage victory. “He didn’t want to be blocked.”

The general classification didn’t change, with all the top contenders finishing behind the sprinters in the main pack.

Schleck earned the yellow jersey for a third straight day, and defending champion Alberto Contador remained 41 seconds back in second place overall. Samuel Sanchez of Spain was third, 2:45 behind the leader.

The stage Friday is a bit more bumpy, with five mid-grade climbs during the 130.8-mile stage from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende in rural southeastern France.