Tour de France: Dramatic finish sees Cavendish snatch second victory in Tour

By Ian Parker

July 5 2016

Mark Cavendish grabbed his second victory of the 2016 Tour de France by a matter of inches in Angers.

Andre Greipel punched the air after the pair crossed the line, but the German's celebrations proved misplaced as replays showed Cavendish took it by a whisker.

Cavendish won stage one of the Tour on Saturday to wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his career, and this latest success gives him 28 Tour stage wins.

Peter Sagan finished fourth to retain the yellow jersey he took off Cavendish with victory in Sunday's stage.

"I normally know when I win or I lose," Cavendish said. "When I crossed the line, I kind of knew I got it today but anything can happen."

Chris Froome finished near the front of the pack, 22nd on the day, moving the Team Sky man up to fourth overall, still 14 seconds off yellow.

It was a long and often slow day as the peloton travelled 223.5km from Granville to Angers - a stage second in length only to Tuesday's mammoth 237.5km trek from Saumur to Limoges in this year's Tour.

With Sagan in yellow and his Tinkoff team controlling the peloton, they kept the pace slow to aid their ailing leader Alberto Contador. The Spaniard suffered two crashes on the opening stages and team director Sean Yates said he could not be sure if Contador would have to withdraw.

Belfast Telegraph

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