Cavendish racked up his third win of the tour setting a record for British cyclists in the process.

Stage 12 Winner Mark Cavendish

Cavendish powered through the front runners, outpacing Sebastien Chavanel and Gert Steegmans to the line. The man looked like a freight train. It was fun to read all the Twitter activity congratulating Cavendish.  I’ve been wondering why he and the team haven’t been contesting for the Green jersey. In a post race interview he said that the team felt that it was plenty enough to contest the finishes. Adding intermediate sprints into the equation would dilute the focus and jeopardize they’re chances for stage wins. Well, there is always next year.

Other noteworthy finishers include Eric Zabel, who continues to consistently get in there. Today he ended up 4^th. Oscar Freire was able to hang on for 5^th while the green giant, Thor Hushovd managed to salvage seventh.  Robbie McEwen ended up in 11^th place.

As for the rest of the race, it was a by the numbers stage on basically flat terrain. The heat and wind were the most serious impediment. A two man break got away at 40km from the start which included Arnaud Gerard and Samuel Dumoulin. They built up a lead of over 3:30 minutes and held on till about the 10km to go mark. Team tactics were in play for the intermediate and final sprints. Columbia put on an excellent show, towing their man Cavendish into superb position to contest. He did not disappoint.

Sad Note: Tour officials announced that Riccardo Riccò of Saunier Duval-Scott had tested positive for EPO after Stage 4. He apparently was using a new type of EPO called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator or CERA. Now it is off to the police station and a summer of questions. I guess Saunier Duval-Scott was not able to justify remaining in the tour. The team pulled out just before the stage began.

Stage 12 Video Recap: http://tinyurl.com/59r9kc

Stage Recap Articles

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Versus: http://tinyurl.com/56tr3c

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Stage 12 Results:

Pos.	No.	Name	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap
1	043	CAVENDISH, Mark	GBR	THR	03:40:52	00:00:00
2	162	CHAVANEL, Sébastien	FRA	FDJ	03:40:52	00:00:00
3	097	STEEGMANS, Gert	BEL	QST	03:40:52	00:00:00
4	151	ZABEL, Erik	GER	MRM	03:40:52	00:00:00
5	133	FREIRE, Oscar	ESP	RAB	03:40:52	00:00:00
6	063	CHICCHI, Francesco	ITA	LIQ	03:40:52	00:00:00
7	081	HUSHOVD, Thor	NOR	C.A	03:40:52	00:00:00
8	186	DUQUE, Leonardo	COL	COF	03:40:52	00:00:00
9	193	DEAN, Julian	NZL	TSL	03:40:52	00:00:00
10	114	HAUSSLER, Heinrich	GER	GST	03:40:52	00:00:00
11	006	MC EWEN, Robbie	AUS	SIL	03:40:52	00:00:00
12	123	CASPER, Jimmy	FRA	AGR	03:40:52	00:00:00
13	058	HUNTER, Robert	RSA	BAR	03:40:52	00:00:00
14	105	ELMIGER, Martin	SUI	ALM	03:40:52	00:00:00
15	072	BALLAN, Alessandro	ITA	LAM	03:40:52	00:00:00

Overall Results:

Pos.	No.	Name	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap
1	001	EVANS, Cadel	AUS	SIL	50:23:05	00:00:00
2	017	SCHLECK, Frank	LUX	CSC	50:23:06	00:00:01
3	191	VANDEVELDE, Christian	USA	TSL	50:23:43	00:00:38
4	115	KOHL, Bernhard	AUT	GST	50:23:51	00:00:46
5	131	MENCHOV, Denis	RUS	RAB	50:24:02	00:00:57
6	011	SASTRE, Carlos	ESP	CSC	50:24:33	00:01:28
7	041	KIRCHEN, Kim	LUX	THR	50:25:01	00:01:56
8	104	EFIMKIN, Vladimir	RUS	ALM	50:25:37	00:02:32
9	022	ASTARLOZA, Mikel	ESP	EUS	50:26:56	00:03:51
10	067	NIBALI, Vincenzo	ITA	LIQ	50:27:23	00:04:18