Mark Cavendish appears to have the sprinters green jersey in the bag at the 2011 Tour de France. Fresh from his fourth stage win, Cavendish now holds a 37 point lead over Jose Rojas, and a 71 point break over Philippe Gilbert. Cavendish claims that he still has a lot of work to do to capture the title, with his closest rivals still a chance of overtaking him on points, yet there may also be a threat of him losing the crown via disqualification if recent accusations prove true.
Yesterday Rojas, the main challenger for the green jersey, made the stunning claim that Cavendish has been holding onto cars on climbs. Third placed Philippe Gilbert was seen talking to the race director Jean-Francois Pescheux, and Rojas stated that both of them complained about Cavendish and his habit of "hanging on to cars on the climbs."
Rojas also said "We want a clean sport, not only in the fight against doping, but also about other things. We asked for a television camera to follow Cavendish in the race." Pexcheux has denied the conversation was about Cavendish, and the Tour de France organisers have dismissed the accusations. With the tour already being marred by the participation of potential drug cheat Alberto Contador, additional cheating claims are the last thing Tour organisers want to hear, or want to admit to.
These are not the first wild claims by Rojas during this years Tour. Back in stage 5, Rojas complained that he was punched by Alessandro Petacchi with just over one kilometre to go before the finish line, which prevented him from breathing properly and winning the race to the stage finish. Sensationally, Rojas was later stripped of points for forcing another rider into the path of Cavendish and blocking him.
Yet on the other side of the coin, this is also not the first time that Mark Cavendish has been accused of cheating in a race by holding onto the backs of cars. Just last month in the Giro d'Italia, Cavendish was accused by two different riders of employing the same tactic. Of particular interest was the timing of those claims. With Cavendish arriving just 25 seconds inside the stage point cut-off time, he narrowly escaped being cut from the race. In this do-or-die scenario, towing would have been a solution to stay alive, by helping to keep his legs in team cycling shorts fresh.
Francisco Ventoso was the first of the two riders to make the claim, when he said "He should only be happy that he's still in the race, he should have been disqualified for being attached to the car for a long time during the climb on Etna." This was quickly confirmed by Murilo Fischer on Twitter with "Incredible, he says he wants to win a stage at any cost and he does 10km holding onto a car."
In response to both of these allegations, Cavendish has employed the guilty-party line of not directly denying the accusations. He responded to the latest claim by Rojas with a rant that he is always being watched, rather than just saying no he didn't do it. Based on past history, when the accused uses these kinds of responses, they are almost always guilty of the offense. It may just be that Cavendish is a cheat.
Yesterday Rojas, the main challenger for the green jersey, made the stunning claim that Cavendish has been holding onto cars on climbs. Third placed Philippe Gilbert was seen talking to the race director Jean-Francois Pescheux, and Rojas stated that both of them complained about Cavendish and his habit of "hanging on to cars on the climbs."
Rojas also said "We want a clean sport, not only in the fight against doping, but also about other things. We asked for a television camera to follow Cavendish in the race." Pexcheux has denied the conversation was about Cavendish, and the Tour de France organisers have dismissed the accusations. With the tour already being marred by the participation of potential drug cheat Alberto Contador, additional cheating claims are the last thing Tour organisers want to hear, or want to admit to.
These are not the first wild claims by Rojas during this years Tour. Back in stage 5, Rojas complained that he was punched by Alessandro Petacchi with just over one kilometre to go before the finish line, which prevented him from breathing properly and winning the race to the stage finish. Sensationally, Rojas was later stripped of points for forcing another rider into the path of Cavendish and blocking him.
Yet on the other side of the coin, this is also not the first time that Mark Cavendish has been accused of cheating in a race by holding onto the backs of cars. Just last month in the Giro d'Italia, Cavendish was accused by two different riders of employing the same tactic. Of particular interest was the timing of those claims. With Cavendish arriving just 25 seconds inside the stage point cut-off time, he narrowly escaped being cut from the race. In this do-or-die scenario, towing would have been a solution to stay alive, by helping to keep his legs in team cycling shorts fresh.
Francisco Ventoso was the first of the two riders to make the claim, when he said "He should only be happy that he's still in the race, he should have been disqualified for being attached to the car for a long time during the climb on Etna." This was quickly confirmed by Murilo Fischer on Twitter with "Incredible, he says he wants to win a stage at any cost and he does 10km holding onto a car."
In response to both of these allegations, Cavendish has employed the guilty-party line of not directly denying the accusations. He responded to the latest claim by Rojas with a rant that he is always being watched, rather than just saying no he didn't do it. Based on past history, when the accused uses these kinds of responses, they are almost always guilty of the offense. It may just be that Cavendish is a cheat.