Tour de France 2011: Mark Cavendish Wins Stage 21 And Green; Cadel Evans Wins Tour

A number of breakaways tried to steal the show in the final day of the 2011 Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées, but all were unsuccessful. Once the peloton reeled in all of the attackers and HTC-Highroad got all of their riders to the front of the pack, there was only one likely result. Unsurprisingly, Mark Cavendish has won yet again in Paris, notching his fifth win of the 2011 Tour and his third straight win in Paris. With his win, Cavendish took home the Green Jersey. He’s the first rider from the United Kingdom to win green in the Tour de France, and this green jersey is his second in a grand tour.

Cadel Evans did the traditional winner’s ride on the final stage, sipping champagne as the stage started, then riding with his team BMC Racing as they led the rest of the pack onto the Champs-Élysées as the peloton entered Paris from the east. From that point, he just had to stick with the peloton and finish the race, which he did easily.

The 2011 Tour de France comes to an on Sunday with a 59-mile journey from Créteil to the familiar finish line at the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Cadel Evans will likely go unchallenged by Andy Schleck during this final portion of the Tour and will be the ultimate maillot jaune victor this year.

Versus wraps up its coverage of the 2011 Tour de France on Sunday morning. Its live broadcast of the final stage begins at 8 a.m. ET and will continue on until the final jersey ceremonies end, likely around 12 p.m. ET.

The 2011 Tour de France has one final stage remaining on Sunday, but all was likely settled after Saturday’s Stage 20 individual time trial. Tony Martin won the stage, but Cadel Evans finished in second to take a healthy lead over Andy Schleck for the yellow jersey.

Barring any extraordinary events on the ride into Paris on Sunday, Evans will become the first Australian cyclists to win the general classification portion of the race. The Schleck Bros. provided a tough challenger, but they will ultimately come up just behind Evans. Thomas Voeckler wore the yellow jersey for several days, but the last few mountains stages saw him lose that. Alberto Contador, the winner of the previous two races, jumped near the top of the leaderboard and will likely finish in fifth.

With a strong performance in Saturday’s time trial, Cadel Evans assumed the yellow jersey ahead of the ride into Paris and, barring something spectacularly unprecedented, will win the 2011 Tour de France. Evans made up nearly a minute in the overall classification and then some, taking a 1:34 lead over Andy Schleck and 2:30 over his brother Frank Schleck. Heading into the time trial, Andy Schleck had 57 second lead over Evans, but saw it all evaporate with a poor performance.

Alberto Contador gave it a go on Saturday in an effort to climb onto the podium, but fell just short. He’ll ride into Paris in fifth place in the general classification. Thomas Voeckler’s surprising resilience, and lengthy time in yellow, nearly paid off with a podium, as well, though he will finish in fourth-place this year. Voeckler faded late, as expected, but is just 3:20 behind Evans.

Barring a major problem on Stage 21, the final stage of the Tour, 34-year-old Australian Cadel Evans is going to win the 2011 Tour de France after finishing as the runner up on two occasions. Tony Martin won the individual time trial with a fantastic ride through Grenoble, but he bested Evans by just seven seconds, as the Aussie obliterated the rest of the general classification contenders.

Alberto Contador put in a good ride to finish third on the stage and climb to fifth overall, while Andy and Frank Schleck put in decent rides, especially for being notably average time trialists, both finishing inside of the top 20. Thomas Voeckler also did well to finish in the top 20, and he will finish the Tour de France in an impressive fourth place.

It’s a family affair atop the general classification of the 2011 Tour de France as Andy Schleck made his move and captured the yellow jersey on Friday. His brother, Frank Schleck, sits just behind, 53 seconds off the pace and in second place in the overall standings. The two are followed closely by Cadel Evans, who is just four seconds behind Frank Schleck and 57 seconds off the pace.

For Alberto Contador, the road to a Tour de France victory is now an uphill battle, with 3:55 separating him from the yellow jersey and only Saturday’s time trial ahead as a chance to gain ground. Barring something spectacular, it looks like the fight for the 2011 Tour de France will come down to the Schlecks and Evans as they race against the clock for 26 miles in Grenoble.

One of the more amazing things about the Tour de France is just how close spectators are to the riders, especially in the mountain stages. We’re talking about narrow, winding roads lined with cycling fans reaching their arms out and hoping to get a piece of their favorite riders, creating a dangerous and scary situation at times. We’ve already seen a car run over a cyclist in this year’s Tour de France and we’ve seen Lance Armstrong toppled by a lady with a bag in the mountains of a previous tour. It’s hazardous stuff.

And sometimes, it’s not just the cyclists in danger. Like on Friday, when Alberto Contador had enough of a running lunatic in some kind of weird outfit that involved a surgical mask. Without breaking rhythm, Contador reaches out and punches the guy, continuing on his merry way on the climb like nothing had happened.

Andy Schleck finally tracked down Thomas Voeckler, claiming the yellow jersey as the 2011 Tour de France heads into its deciding stage. Luxembourg’s Schleck finished ninth in Stage 19, but it was enough to overcome the roughly one-minute lead with which Thomas Voeckler entered the stage.

Schleck now leads Cadel Evans, his closest remaining rival, by 57 seconds as the Tour moves into the final day of racing, an individual time trial. That stage will consist of single riders going through a 26-mile course in Grenoble. Evans is widely considered to be the superior time trialist, leaving some to speculate that Schleck did not do enough to open up a sustainable gap.

After Andy Schleck’s victory in Stage 18 of the 2011 Tour de France, Thomas Voeckler’s overall lead in the tour standings keeps shrinking, with Andy Schleck now just 15 seconds off the pace. Andy’s brother Frank took second place and Cadel Evans third in Stage 18, and are now each within 75 seconds of Voelcker, who finished fifth in the stage, behind the Schlecks, Evans, and Ivan Basso. The full results of the stage are here, and here’s Kevin McCauley’s recap of the stage.

Stage 19 is short (109.5 kilometers) but brutal. It begins with a 14-kilometer descent, but features two tough climbs in quick succession. Then there’s a long descent before a third tough climb toward the finish. It will be a great stage for the climbers. Here’s Podium Cafe’s preview of what to expect.

Attacks from general classification contenders half-way through a stage aren’t terribly common. Though most believed that Andy Schleck had to attack today to make up his time gaps back to the other contenders in the race, he was expected to launch that attack on the final climb of the day on the road to Galibier Serre-Chevalier. Instead, Schleck took off on the Col d’Izoard, putting a large gap on the field before surviving the descent and the final climb of the day to win the stage.

However, he missed out on the ultimate goal - the maillot jaune. Schleck had a gap of more than four minutes on the other contenders at the start of the final climb of the day, but they cut that gap to under two minutes and 30 seconds at the end, with Thomas Voeckler doing enough to keep the race lead by 15 seconds. Also in that second finishing group were Andy’s brother Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans and Ivan Basso. Damiano Cunego wasn’t far behind, preserving his top 10 spot.

With Stage 18 being such a crucial stage for the general classification, conventional wisdom said that Stage 17, a mountain stage with no hors categorie climbs, would be one for the breakaway. Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen has shown in this 2011 Tour de France that this kind of stage sets up for him perfectly, and he’s done it again, winning his second stage of the Tour with a great attack on the final climb and a flawless descent into Pinerolo.

The descent into the finish was an extremely tricky one, leading to more gaps being formed between the contenders going downhill than going uphill. All of the contenders stuck together up the hill, but once again, Samuel Sanchez and Alberto Contador were able to drop the other contenders. Unlike Stage 16, Cadel Evans didn’t stick with them. Thomas Voeckler, a man who has a reputation for being a fantastic descender, lost control of his bike on two occasions to lose some time, but he was able to avoid injury on both occasions.

Stage 16 of the 2011 Tour de France is in the books, and Norway’s Thor Hushovd came away the day’s big winner. The 33-year old fought off a slew of challenges from Edvald Boasson Hagen and Ryder Hesjedal during the exhilarating race from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Gap to capture his third stage win of the 2011 Tour.

In the overall standings, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler remains in control of the yellow jersey, 1:45 ahead of Englishman Cadel Evans. The brothers from Luxembourg, Frank and Andy Schleck, are caught in a fierce battle for third place, while Tom Danielson -- the highest ranking American -- sits in ninth.

The 2011 Tour de France continues on Wednesday with Stage 17, a 179-km high mountain stage in the Alps. Stage 17 should merely be a prelude to much tougher mountain rides in Stages 18 and 19, however. After a strong showing in Stage 16, Alberto Contador, still mired in sixth place, will need to work hard during these mountain stages to make up for lost time. He’ll face a battle against Cadel Evans, in particular, who had a slightly better time than Contador in Stage 16 and also gained time on overall leader Thomas Voeckler.

Stage 17 will be aired at 8:00 AM Eastern on VERSUS, and will re-air at 12:00 PM, 2:30 PM, and 8:00 PM Wednesday, as well as 12:00 AM Thursday.

With some bad weather on a course that included just one climb - a category two - few fireworks were expected out of the general classification contenders on Stage 16 of the 2011 Tour de France. Instead, Alberto Contador attacked multiple times, creating improbable time gaps on a category two climb and a short descent. The big loser of the day was Andy Schleck, who lost nearly a minute to Contador, Cadel Evans and Samuel Sanchez, as well as a further 40 seconds to his brother Frank and Thomas Voeckler. The winner of the day was Thor Hushovd, beating out Edvald Boasson Hagen and his teammate Ryder Hesjedal after the three escaped as part of a breakaway.

The breakaway that won the day didn’t go at the very beginning of the race, but instead made their move about halfway through the stage. A total of 15 riders were eventually successful in breaking away from the field, with 10 riders in the lead group and five in a chase group. That breakaway would get split up on the climb near the end of the race, with the survivors being Hesjedal, Boasson Hagen, and Hushovd. Hesjedal went over the climb first to claim maximum points in the King Of The Mountains race, but he was caught by his two rivals on the descent.

The 2011 Tour de France heads into Gap, crosses the Col de Manse, then drops down again into the finish after completing a small circuit on Monday. Stage 16 is for the climbers and is known as a place where something completely unexpected usually happens.

Sunday was yet another big day for the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish, as the Englishman has sprinted his way to his fourth win in the 2011 Tour de France and the 19th Tour win of his career, out-sprinting the field to take Stage 15. Tyler Ferrar and Alessandro Petacchi gave him a run for his money, finishing in second and third and within a bike length of the winner.

It’s yet another big day for the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish, as the Englishman has sprinted his way to his fourth win in the 2011 Tour de France and the 19th Tour win of his career, out-sprinting the field to take Stage 15. Tyler Ferrar and Alessandro Petacchi gave him a run for his money, finishing in second and third and within a bike length of the winner. Cavendish, the green jersey holder, also significantly strengthened his lead in the points classification as Andre Greipel and Phillipe Gilbert were nowhere to be found in the top 10. Jose Joaquin Rojas finished in fifth place.

Gilbert attempted to mount an attack near the end of the race after the peloton caught the breakaway easily, but Gilbert was reeled back in and was ultimately a non-factor in the finish. Gilbert and Rojas are still well within striking distance of Cavendish’s green jersey, and he will likely have to fight for it all the way to the Champs-Elysees.

The Tour de France heads back to flat land on Sunday after three days in the mountains. Stage 15 is for the sprinters, and comes before a rest day leading up to the final mountain stages that will decide the 2011 Tour de France now. As it stands, Thomas Voeckler is in the yellow jersey, with many wondering when he’ll fade and relinquish his lead. It hasn’t happened yet, and barring a disaster Voeckler will be in yellow for at least two more days -- Sunday’s flat stage and Monday’s rest day.

Stage 14 saw no major changes in the general classification, a surprise to many who expected the contenders to make a move in the final Pyrenees stage. Voeckler kept his lead, with Alberto Cantador, Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck all staying on each other’s wheels until near the finish line. Schleck did break away momentarily near the end, taking two more seconds from Contador.

The Tour de France’s trip through the Pyrenees ended with a fizzle rather than a bang on Saturday as the general classification remained unchanged and the biggest contenders for the 2011 title failed to mount serious attacks. Instead, Jelle Vanendert, riding in his first Tour de France, surged to the stage win, putting 21 seconds between himself and the second-place finisher, Samuel Sanchez. Andy Schleck finished in third, 48 seconds behind Vanendert.

It was slow-going for the top-contenders, who struggled to breakaway from the pack, and away from each other, in the mountainous stage. While Contado, Evans and Andy Schleck did engage in a back-and-forth battle over the final climb. Schleck picked up two seconds on the other two, more of a moral victory than anything else, and the general classification stayed relatively the same, far from the major change expected before the stage.

After 13 stages, the 2011 Tour de France is still topped by Thomas Voeckler, who gained the yellow jersey over the weekend when the mountain stages entered the race. Voeckler finished with the peloton in Stage 13’s route from Pau to Lourdes, France. However, he still holds a 1:49 lead over Frank Schleck with the race holding one more mountain stage in the Pyrenees on Saturday.

The top American cyclist is Tom Danielson of Team Garmin-Cervelo, currently in a tie for ninth place (+4:35) with Philippe Gilbert of Omega Pharma-Lotto. Thor Hushovd, Danielson’s teammate, captured the Stage 13 victory, an unlikely victory and his first since the start of the mountain stages. Hushovd wore the maillot jaune Stages 2-9, but the sprinter lost ground since last weekend. The Norwegian is now No. 48 in the general classification and nearly 30 minutes behind Voeckler.

Thor Hushovd, the world champion, won Stage 13 of the 2011 Tour de France on Friday, a 101-mile ride from Pau to Lourdes, France, that featured a hors catégorie climb up the Col d’Aubisque followed by a chilling descent to the finish line. Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) beat France’s David Moncoutie (Cofidis) by 10 seconds to capture the stage win.

Hushovd was part of an early breakaway that fell apart on the climb, and by the summit, he found himself a full two minutes behind the leader, Jérémy Roy. But Hushovd’s skills in the long descent were on full display, as he teamed with Moncoutie to pull in Roy, eventually passing him with under 3km left. (Visit our excellent cycling blog, Podium Cafe, for a full play-by-play -- pedal-by-pedal? -- of the final 20 km.)

Samuel Sanchez has had some excellent rides in the Tour de France since winning the Olympic gold medal in 2008, but he hasn’t yet come close to matching that achievement. That is, until Stage 12 of the Tour de France, where Sanchez picked up the first or second biggest win - depending on who you ask - of his professional cycling career with a win on the slopes of the Luz-Ardiden.

Jelle Vanendert, his partner in the breakaway, finished second while Frank Schleck, who was able to get away from the general classification contenders on the first big selection of the tour finished third. Thomas Voeckler was finally slowed down a bit on the Luz-Ardiden after an impressive performance on the Col du Tormalet, but he did more than enough to keep his yellow jersey on Bastille Day. The big loser of the day was Alberto Contador, who lost seven seconds to Damiano Cunego, 13 seconds to Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and Ivan Basso, and 33 seconds to Frank Schleck.

Andre Greipel nearly followed the first victory of his Tour de France career with a second, but this time Mark Cavendish would have none of it. A day after narrowing losing Stage 10 to the German, Cavendish roared back in the race to Lavaur, claiming the Stage 11 win and the 18th Tour victory of the Brit’s career.

Following the conclusion of Stage 11, Team Europcar maintained their wide lead at the top of the leaderboard over Team Leopard-Trek. The rest of the field continues to trail significantly behind, with Team Radioshack currently wedged in third place.

Another day, another great ride by the Manx Missle. Tuesday, on Stage 10, Mark Cavendish finished in second place as he was foiled by German Andre Greipel, but Cavendish got him back on Wednesday, beating him to the line to grab the victory in Stage 11, the 18th stage victory of Cavendish’s career. Greipel finished second, while Tyler Farrar finished third.

Phillipe Gilbert did not finish in the top 10 in the race, and as a result has lost his green jersey to Cavendish, who now sits 20 points ahead of the Belgian champion. Jose Joaqun Rojas finished in seventh place in the sprint, keeping him very much in contention for green. This is the first time since 2009 that Cavendish has worn the green jersey.

In regards to the overall team standings, Team Europcar maintained their stout lead over Team Leopard-Trek. Though, the dramatic drop-off between the 1-2 pair and the rest of the field was preserved as well.

If you’re looking for live coverage and updates online, be sure to stay with our 2011 Tour de France StoryStream. Also be sure to check out the full route and schedule for this year’s race.

Mark Cavendish, Jose Joaquin Rojas, and Thor Hushovd were the tour’s biggest name sprinters who made it to the end of Stage 10 in the 2011 Tour de France, but they were upstaged by Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Andre Greipel. The German rider beat the three of them in a sprint finish to grab the first Tour de France victory of his career.

Greipel is a great sprinter who has won two stages of the Giro d’Italia, four stages of the Vuelta a España, and the points classification in the 2009 edition of the latter race. Greipel, who has previously skipped the Tour during his season, finally duplicated those results from the other grand tours on Tuesday.