Cavendish Wins Second Straight Stage of Tour

Mark Cavendish (Columbia) has won his second consecutive stage of this year's Tour de France and his fourth stage overall. Cavendish bested Robbie McEwen (Silence) and Romain Feillu (Agritubel) in a bunch sprint to win the rolling, 182-km run from Narbonne to Nimes in 4:25:42. Cadel Evans (Silence) remains the maillot jaune. The racing began early. At four km, Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Florent Brard (Cofidis) escaped and led by 9:55 at 21 km. Columbia began to ride tempo to peg the lead. Eventually, Francaise des Jeux joined the American squad, and the fugitives' lead fell to 8:45 at 35 km to 6:35 at 75 km and 2:00 at 142 km. At 155 km, with the peloton within a minute of the break and with Brard's teammate Stephane Auge attempting to bridge, Terpstra attacked and dropped Brard. With 20 km left, Terpstra led Auge and Brard... [read full story]