Tour De France 2012: Mark Cavendish Wins Stage 18

Mark Cavendish Wins The 18TH Stage Of Tour De France 2012.The 2012 Tour de France has already been dubbed “La Promenade des Anglais” in France and that stroll in the park continued on Friday when Mark Cavendish , just a week before the Olympic road race, claimed another superb victory. And he did it in front of a rather glum President Francois Hollande, who was the Tour’s VIP guest on a day when then Union Flag was the most prominent emblem among roadside fans.Cavendish’s victory was his 22nd Tour de France stage win and if he can claim another on the Champs Elysees on Sunday he has never lost there yet – the Manxman will become the most successful sprinter in Tour history, moving past Andre Darrigade, after a five-year glut of winning since his debut.The world champion was led out by the yellow jersey of Bradley Wiggins, who at breakfast in Toulouse had told Sky sporting director Sean Yates that it was time to ‘ride for Cav’ and vowed to make the sprint happen despite the perceived wisdom that the maillot jeune always buries himself in the peloton the day before his official anointment.The beneficiary of exceptional and selfless teamwork himself this tour, Wiggins has taken every opportunity to repay in kind. He provided the lead-out for Edvald Boasson Hagen in Cap d’Agde last Saturday and again worked like a trojan at the death yesterday on damp and slippery roads. After that, and a second useful turn form Edvald Boasson Hagen, it was all Cavendish, as he let rip from fully 600 metres out, chased down the remnants of the break and crossed the line in splendid isolation.With London in mind this was a win he wanted badly, by as big a margin as possible, and it was greeted with that trademark punch of the air with Wiggins doing likewise down the home straight, comign home with his lead intact at 2mins 5secs.This win was an encouraging but not definitive marker for the Olympics. After two hideous mountain day,Cavendish looked strong from the start on a testing lumpy day which at 137 miles was the second longest stage of the Tour.“We knew it was a hard stage and it would have been easy for the guys to concentrate on Paris,” said Cavendish afterwards. “Sean said ‘take it easy, let the break go’ but Brad jumped in immediately and said that we should go for the sprint and he would lead it out.“They are a really good group of guys and were there for me at the end, they moved me up nice and smoothly, we didn’t want to catch the break too soon and with 600 metres to go I put all my chips on the table.“It wasn’t an easy day and I was suffering at time but I recovered quickly and I sprinted with real acceleration. It gives me confidence that I am coming out of this tour with good form. Spirits in the team are really high. It’s not often you can come here to win the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.”The picture every cycling photographer wants now is the maillot jeune leading out the rainbow jersey down a Champs Elysees swaying with Union Flags, but that cannot happen until Wiggins and Chris Froome nail down their historic British one-two at the 32-mile time-trial from Bonneval to Chartres this afternoon.The duo, who flew from Brive to Chartres with their Sky colleagues on Friday night, are comfortably the best time-triallists remaining among the GC contenders and barring sabotage or riots, Wiggins will be riding down the Champs Elysees in yellow. The traditional champagne sharpeners en route will have to wait, though. Cavendish wants one more win and the yellow jersey stands by to serve. It has been an extraordinary Tour.