Cavendish vindicated in Montargis!

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The riders at HTC-Columbia often say that each victory they take belongs to the team and no better was this demonstrated than on Thursday's stage to Montargis. After the disappointment of Wednesday's sprint into Reims, Mark Cavendish took advantage of the perfect work done by his teammates to open his stage win account in this year's Tour.

The Manxman's celebrations said it all as he crossed the line after four and a half hours of racing: arms raised high, full of relief, sweet celebration and redemption. More than usual, Cavendish savoured the embraces of HTC-Columbia staff and Erik Zabel, the six-time green jersey winner and his close advisor. And Cav hugged them all before walking back to the finish with a proud swagger that said: 'I'm back'.

Despite the best efforts of rival teams to derail the HTC-Columbia train in the final kilometres in the Montargis suburbs, the likes of Thor Hushovd, Alessandro Petacchi, Tyler Farrar, Gerald Ciolek and Robbie McEwen couldn't get the better of Renshaw and Cavendish when it counted.

Renshaw elbowed Thor Hushovd out of the way and then dragged Cavendish clear as the finish line loomed. Cavendish did not hesitate as the sprint began and surged clear. This time, he had the power and speed to win. Germany's Gerald Ciolek (Milram) jumped at the same time as Cavendish but was beaten for speed and finished second. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) came from behind Cavendish to take third.

Tears on the podium, reminiscent of his win at last year's Milan-San Remo, were a sure sign of Cavendish hitting the release valve on a pressure cooker that had been building up inside him and HTC-Columbia for months. During the Tour's opening week, a number of factors - crashes, cobbles and circumstances, had conspired against the 24-year-old. But suddenly, all that was forgotten with a convincing return to victory.

"It means everything to win," Cavendish said. "It's incredibly emotional. All the pressure and emotion built up but it's finally over."

"It was hard this year. I always said everything was about the Tour de France. Thing didn't go our way yesterday. I let them down massively and it would have been easy for them to say 'He hasn't got it' like other people did. But they rode for me. Siutsou rode covered in bandages and Rogers was there at the finish and took it on too. Renshaw did an incredible job, fighting with Thor [Hushovd], with Tyler [Farrar] and with Oscar [Freire]. I knew he'd drop me off at the right place."

Thanks to his fifth place, Thor Hushovd maintained his lead in the points classification, while Fabian Cancellara will enjoy another day in the maillot jaune as Jerôme Pineau carries on in the polka dot jersey when the race heads to Gueugnon tomorrow. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) kept the best young rider's white jersey, giving Britain an historic day, with two riders on the podium.

Cavendish is also back in the hunt for the points classification crown, lighting up the battle for the maillot vert when others had written him off. Hushovd is still in green with a total of 102 points but Cavendish has 50 points. And it's always a mistake to write off men of his calibre, as Hushovd knows.

"He's one of the best sprinters in the world. I'm happy with today's stage. I was able to get some more points in the hunt for the maillot vert," Hushovd said. "I was in good position for the final sprint. I used a lot of energy to get on the wheel of Renshaw, and Cavendish was able to win. It's always better to win the stage. I am not racing just for points, I want to win the stages too."

Play it again, Sam

Another sunny day, another favourable parcour, meant the conditions were ripe for another bunch sprint. But this time HTC-Columbia was hoping that Cavendish would finish the job done by Konstantin Siutsou, Maxime Monfort, Tony Martin, Bert Grabsch, Michael Rogers, Bernhard Eisel and Mark Renshaw, who all played such an important role in getting him to the final 200 metres the day before.

But before the finish could be contested - another break was allowed to steal the early glory. The escape group was again let go nice and early. Caisse d'Epargne's José Ivan Gutierrez kicked off proceedings, attacking hard and taking off after six kilometres. With Jurgen van de Walle (Quick Step) and Julian El Fares (Cofidis) in tow, the Spaniard set about accumulating a significant gap which became a minute after seven kilometres of riding off the front.

With 28km of the stage passed, the break gained its maximum advantage of 7:55 as the peloton continued to lick its wounds after that bruising stage three encounter with the cobbles of northern France. However the next 20km saw that gap hover around six minutes until it began to fall with just over 100km left to race. The sprinters were not going to let the break gain too much time.

The likes of Grabsch, Siutsou and Monfort were again pivotal in whittling the break's advantage; when it was down to a manageable 2:27 with 65km remaining, Lampre-Farnese Vini decided to get involved, with Slovenian rider Grega Bole again proving his worth to the Italian team's cause, towing the bunch in pursuit of the leading trio.

As the time board showed the peloton was 1:47 from the break with 40km to go, Cervélo TestTeam also began to get involved in the task of pulling back the Belgian-Franco-Iberian alliance that had worked well to maintain its position off the front of the bunch.

But like yesterday's romp into Reims, it all became mathematical in the finale as the break was again caught late in the stage; with 10km remaining it was time for Tony Martin to kick things back into action for HTC-Columbia, the erstwhile leader of the best young rider classification dragging the main bunch to within sight of the escape group.

Time's up, José

With six kilometres remaining, Gutierrez decided it was time to split from his breakaway companions, who were caught shortly after, while the Spaniard continued to hold out against the inevitable. Whilst a spirited effort, the Spanish national road race champion's attempt to stay away ended two kilometres later as the peloton had four clicks to go before the expected bunch kick. The question on everyone's lips was: Could Cav make a comeback to the winners' circle or would he fail again and the pressure grow even more?

Gutierrez's demise was the cue for Lampre-Farnese Vini and Garmin-Slipstream to come to the front, Martijn Maaskant going head to head with Danilo Hondo for position in the midst of the HTC-Columbia train in an attempt to steal its momentum, the result being Bernhard Eisel's isolation at the head of affairs.

David Millar, Robbie Hunter and Julian Dean then organised themselves brilliantly for Farrar. Behind them sat Hushovd, Renshaw and Cavendish, with all eyes on the latter two. Waiting in the wings for any mistakes and for a gap to dive through, was yesterday's winner Petacchi, plus Gerald Ciolek and Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Unlike yesterday however, when Mark Renshaw swung off with 200 metres to go Cavendish kicked... and kicked hard. The HTC-Columbia sprinter was back to his best, finding victory vindication during a week that has tested the character of the rider who had so dominated the sprints during last year's Tour de France.

The question now becomes: will he have enough of that same character and speed to continue winning and eventually take the green jersey at race's end in Paris? Stay tuned for that intriguing plotline of what has already been a fascinating Tour de France after just six days of racing.

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