Cavendish wins 11th stage of Tour after teammate head-butts rival; Schleck keeps overall lead

Renshaw booted for helping Cavendish win Stage 11

BOURG-LES-VALENCE, France — Mark Cavendish provided a feel-good story when he broke down in tears after winning the 5th stage of the Tour de France a week ago.

Cavendish, who also won Stage 6, had his third stage win of this year’s Tour marred by the actions of a teammate.

Mark Renshaw was expelled from the Tour for illegally head-butting a rival in a frenzied final sprint in the 11th stage won by Cavendish on Thursday.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg retained the overall lead, cruising into the finish in the pack after riding part of the stage discussing a vacation with his main rival for the title — defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain.

Renshaw, Cavendish’s lead-out man on the HTC Columbia team, rammed his head three times into the shoulder of Julian Dean — the lead-out man for Tyler Farrar on Garmin-Transitions — in an apparent bid to push him out of the way during the final sprint. Dean was leading the pack at the time.

“This is cycling, it’s not wrestling,” course director Jean-Francois Pescheux said. He added removing Renshaw was “severe” punishment, and that his violation was “flagrant.”

“There are rules to respect,” he said.

After reviewing video of the sprint finish, the race jury said Renshaw was “removed from the competition for a particularly serious case.” They also said he was fined 200 Swiss francs (about $192) for a grave case of “irregular sprint.” Cycling’s governing body UCI is based in Switzerland.

After feeling three “hits” on his side, Dean said he was “a little bit astounded that this conduct was taking place,” and said he felt “shaken” as he crossed the line in 23rd place.

These were two riders almost destined for antagonism: Dean is from New Zealand, Renshaw’s an Australian; they’re both pilots, or lead-out men, for top sprinters; and their two American teams have a simmering rivalry.

“Yeah, if you start making a list of the potential opposites, we have a lot,” Dean told The Associated Press by phone after the stage.

A spokeswoman for HTC Columbia didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail and a phone message seeking comment from Renshaw.

Cavendish took the 114.6-mile stage from Sisteron to Bourg-les-Valence, featuring a mid-grade climb, with a time of 4 hours, 42 minutes, 29 seconds.

After the head-butts, Cavendish spurted ahead in the final 300 meters and won in front of Alessandro Petacchi of Italy in second and Farrar in third.

Cavendish rushed to Renshaw’s defense, alleging that Dean had tried to elbow the Australian.

“Mark used his head to get away,” he said. “There’s a risk when your elbow’s that close (that) the bars are going to tangle. That puts everybody behind in danger. Mark gave us a bit of space which kept everybody upright.”

Farrar, America’s leading sprinter at this Tour, said of Columbia: “They don’t need to ride like that. They need to think about the safety of everybody, and let the fastest man win.”

He suggested Renshaw’s head-butting was dangerous.

“I want to win, but more than that, I don’t want to fall,” said Farrar, who is still looking for his first Tour stage win. “Something like that is more than about winning, it’s really about the health of the riders.”

The stage was mainly flat, and thus favored sprinters. 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. Contador remained second overall — 41 seconds behind. Fellow Spaniard Samuel Sanchez was third, 2:45 behind.

Schleck had an easy — if hot — day, and did a bit of chatting in the peloton.

“It was quiet and we can act like normal people,” said Schleck through a translator, adding that Contador was a friend and they had gone on vacation together. “So we spoke about — we remembered — our holidays.”

The Luxembourg rider finished 65th, and Contador was 40th, with the same time as Cavendish.

Seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, who has already ruled himself out of contention for the title, lost time for a second straight day: He finished in 114th place, 29 seconds behind the pack. He’s 32nd overall, 17:51 behind Schleck.

Friday’s ride is a bit more bumpy, with five mid-grade climbs on tap during the 130.7-mile stage from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende in rural southeastern France.