Tour de France
Cavendish out to keep green
2011-07-23 16:23
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Grenoble - Britain's Mark Cavendish said he is determined to finish his fifth Tour de France campaign on a high by securing the green jersey for the points competition.
Cavendish, who came into the race with 15 stage wins, has narrowly missed winning the coveted prize usually won by the sprinters the past two years.
The Isle of Man sprinter will go into the final stage on Sunday with a 15-point lead on Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas of the Movistar team.
And he believes he will do enough over the final stage of the race to keep Rojas off his back.
"One point is enough to keep the green jersey in Paris. I want to win in Paris whatever," said Cavendish, who has won four stages this year to take his tally to 19 - unrivalled for a sprinter on the Tour.
The 21st and final stage begins in Creteil and will take the peloton on a 30km loop of the region immediately south east of the capital before crossing the 'peripherique' ring road which surrounds Paris.
Once in the city the peloton will begin the first of eight loops around the Champs Elysees, where the stage's only intermediate sprint is situated after 59.5km of racing.
In the lead-up, Cavendish's HTC-Highroad team will look to drive the pace hard in a bid to make sure none of their rivals, notably Rojas, takes the maximum points on offer.
Organisers changed the points competition rules this year, with more points on offer at the intermediate sprints. Now, the first 15 finishers are rewarded, with 20 pts for the first to one point for the 15th rider over the line.
Even if Cavendish fails to shine at the intermediate sprint, he has a last chance at the finish where a maximum of 45 pts can be pocketed by the winner, with the 15th placed rider taking just two points.
Going in his favour is the fact he has won the final stage on the world famous Champs, in convincing style, the past two years.