Tour De France / Tobias Gourlay / 08 July 2009 / Leave a comment

Another flat stage, another Mark Cavendish victory, presumes Tobias Gourlay

Today's course is flat and tailor-made for a sprint finish. That'll be another Mark Cavendish victory, then. Cannonball, who won in nearby Narbonne last year, is a [1.79] shot today. The Team Time-Trial takes something out of every team, but, with no good prospect of another sprint finish until Stage Ten next Tuesday, Team Columbia will be prepared to make an extra effort to ensure the Manxman's safe passage to the front of the peloton.

The last time a stage finished in Perpignan was 1997, when Serguei Outschakov was disqualified for irregular sprinting. A ray of hope for Cavendish's rivals, perhaps.

A couple of days in the maillot vert have made Cavendish less ambivalent about how much he wants to be wearing the same costume in Paris: 'The green jersey has been a big target for me. I'm wearing it now and well, okay, I've been a pro for three years but this is all I've wanted since turning pro. For sure I want to keep it; I've made a good debut at the Tour and I want to hold onto the jersey.' He is now a [1.54] favourite to win the points classification.

Such has been Cavendish's dominance of the two sprint finishes so far, there's a new market to have a think on: Winner Without Cavendish. Norwegian Thor Hushovd, the 2005 green-jersey winner, has so far managed second and fourth in the Columbia man's wake, and is joint favourite with Oscar Freire at [4.7] in the new market. He is also available at [2.60] for a top-three finish.