INQUIRER Sports

Saint-Fargeau, France — Mark Cavendish won the 11th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday by beating Tyler Farrar in a sprint finish on a flat stage, and Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy held on to the yellow jersey.

Cavendish earned his second straight stage win and fourth of this year’s Tour. The British sprinter finished about half a bike length ahead of Farrar in the 192-kilometer (119.3-mile) trek from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau.

Cavendish’s win saw him take the green jersey and equal British rider Barry Hoban’s tally of eight Tour stage wins.

“You can talk all day about how great you are at the dinner table,” the 24-year-old Cavendish said. “Success is the biggest motivation for anyone.”

Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus finished the stage in third place. Cavendish, who won four stages in last year’s Tour, took the green jersey from Thor Hushovd of Norway, who finished fifth.

“I was able to get the jump on Thor and win, so it was perfect,” Cavendish said. “It was just beautiful the way the guys could adapt to the situation and deliver me to the sprint.”

Cavendish denied that the competition Wednesday was unable to challenge him.

“(That’s) a massive, massive insult to say (the other) guys are weak,” Cavendish said. “They gave me a massive fight today and came close.”

Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong finishing safely in the main pack and remains in third place, with Astana teammate Alberto Contador narrowly ahead of him in second place overall.

The general classification stayed the same, with Nocentini leading Contador by six seconds. Armstrong trails by eight seconds.

“I feel in very good shape,” Nocentini said. “I hope to keep the yellow jersey.”

Cavendish, meanwhile, will defend the green jersey on another flat stage Thursday before the race heads into a medium mountain stage on Friday. He failed to complete last year’s race.

“Friday is going to be a tough day,” Nocentini said.

Two early crashes saw several riders fall — including Nocentini — and gave Belgian rider Johan Van Summeren and Marcin Sapa of Poland the opportunity to break away after about 30 kilometers (18.7 miles).

“I was in a fall, but nothing too serious. I didn’t hurt myself,” Nocentini said. “We crashed after about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). A lot of riders fell, me also. But I managed to get back up and finish calmly.”

They were eventually caught by the chasing pack, led by the Team Columbia-High Road riders, about five kilometers (3 miles) from the finish.

The Columbia team worked well together at the front, just as they did on Tuesday, to get Cavendish in the best position to attack in the closing stages. But Farrar pushed hard in the final meters and almost caught the British rider. /AP