Cycling
Cavendish loses lead in Tour
2012-09-13 17:39
London - Australian Orica-GreenEdge rider
Leigh Howard seized back the overall leader's gold jersey from Team
Sky's Mark Cavendish in the Tour of Britain after Thursday's fifth
stage, which was won by Marc De Maar.
UnitedHealthcare's De Maar,
of the Netherlands, made a break for the front with six kilometres of
the 147km ride around Stoke-on-Trent remaining, making the move only
four kilometres after crashing to the floor.
He crossed the finish
line alone, with Sep Vanmarcke of Garmin-Sharp winning a sprint finish
for second place some 15 seconds further down the road.
Cavendish fell away from the leading pack in the hills, and could not stay close enough to retain his overall lead.
The
Manxman drops all the way down to 35th in the general classification,
with Howard now seven seconds ahead of Dutchman Boy Van Poppel atop the
standings.
The Tour enters Wales on Friday, with a 189.8km sixth stage from Welshpool to Caerphilly.
The eight-stage race finishes in Guildford, Surrey, on Sunday.
Tour of Great Britain results on Thursday's fifth stage around Stoke-on-Trent:
Stage
1.
Marc De Maar (NED/UnitedHealthcare) 3hr 30min 26sec, 2. Sep Vanmarcke
(BEL) at 0:15, 3. Boy Van Poppel (NED) same time, 4. Nathan Haas (AUS)
s.t., 5. Leigh Howard (AUS) s.t., 6. Sam Bennett (IRL) s.t., 7. Damiano
Caruso (ITA) s.t., 8. Leopold Koenig (CZE) s.t., 9. Jonathan
Tiernan-Locke (GBR) s.t., 10. Jerome Coppel (FRA) s.t.
Selected
61. Mark Cavendish (GBR) 11:45, 64. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) s.t.
Overall (after five of eight stages):
1.
Leigh Howard (AUS/Orica-GreenEDGE) 20hr 38min 35sec, 2. Boy van Poppel
(NED) at 0:07, 3. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL) 0:17, 4. Nathan Haas (AUS) 0:23,
5. Christian Knees (GER) 0:24, 6. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (GBR) s.t., 7.
Damiano Caruso (ITA) s.t., 8. Christopher Jones (USA) 0:34, 9. Bartosz
Huzarski (POL) 2:02, 10. David Le Lay (FRA) s.t.
Selected
35. Mark Cavendish (GBR) 11:27, 41. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) 12:03.