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July 13, 2013

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Cavendish wins eventful 13th stage of Tour

BRITAIN'S Mark Cavendish won a drama-filled 13th stage of the Tour de France yesterday, as former two-time winner Alberto Contador narrowed his deficit to yellow jersey holder Chris Froome.

Omega-Pharma sprinter Cavendish, taking his second win of the 100th edition of the race and 25th of his career, dominated a two-up sprint with Slovakian Peter Sagan.

The British champion had been near the front of the peloton when Contador's Saxo team turned the screw on Team Sky and caused a split in the peloton 31 kilometers from the finish.

Their turn of pace soon left Froome behind and the Sky team of the Kenyan-born Briton crumbled for the second time in the race as it fought in vain to close the gap.

One by one Sky dropped off the pace, leaving Froome isolated and requiring the help of other teams to help in the chase.

Its failure to plug the gap in tough conditions left a 14-strong leading group, being driven mainly by Contador's Saxo team, to forge ahead and finish 1:08 ahead.

As a result, Contador moved up three places to third overall and, after sitting with a 3:54 overnight deficit, is now only 2:45 behind Froome, with Dutchman Bauke Mollema in second at 2:28.

Earlier in the race, Mollema's Belkin team was instrumental in virtually ending the podium hopes of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.

The Movistar team leader started the stage in second place overall at 3:25 but when he suffered a puncture, Belkin increased the pace at the front of the peloton and the former Tour of Spain winner was dropped.

Valverde's teammates dropped back in a bid to pace him back to the peloton but after a long spell of chasing they gave up the ghost. He stopped chasing and eventually trailed home nearly 10 minutes off the pace.

Also, Marianne Vos has Olympic gold medals and the road race world champion's rainbow jersey. Now she wants the yellow jersey.

Olympic road race champion Vos is among a group of cyclists, including British Olympian Emma Pooley, who have launched an online petition urging Tour de France organizers to let women participate in next year's race. The riders say that after a century "it is about time women are allowed to race the Tour de France, too."



 

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