Mark Cavendish won the eleventh stage of the Tour De France this afternoon.
Stage 11 started for the first ever time in Blayes les Mines, a town which sprung up from a country house with its main industries that of coal mining and glass making.
it was a horrid day for the riders on this 167.5km stage after two climbs and an intermediate sprint to the finish line on the route de Castres in Lavaur which gets it name from the Gallic for 'hidden stream'.
AG2R's John Gadret did not start this stage which was one of the few remaining for the sprinters.
Mikael Delarge who is becoming a regular escaper, was in the first break of six riders which got away from the peleton with fourteen kilometres gone.
The FDJ rider was joined by Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Lars Boom (Rabobank), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun).
The first climb of the day came at Cote de Tonnac with 29.5kms gone and saw Lars Boom take the point.
The six escapers were 3 mins 53 seconds ahead with 100kms to go and the race approacing Saint Martin de Vere.
The day's Intermediate Sprint came with 82.5kms to go at Gaillac on the D964 road through the town. Mikael Delarge was allowed by the other five riders to take the twenty points. Nine points were on offer for the first man from the peleton over the sprint line and it was Mark Cavendish who took the nine points to close the gap in the Green Jersey competition after Philippe Gilbert lost the wheel of his lead out man.
The rain came down as HTC chased down the escapers who were a minute and thirty seconds ahead as they went over the final climb of the day.
Inside the final ten kilometres and the escapers were still thirty seconds clear. Lampre and Sky came to the front of the peleton and they could see the escapers a bit further down the D143.
Rabobank's Lars Boom made a break as Delarge who took the Brandt Combativity Award and other four were swept up.
With 2.2kms to go, Lars Boom gave up and it was David Millar who was on the front as they went under the flame rouge.
Geraint Thomas took it up on the left but Mark Cavendish went early and even had time to rebuckle his shoe before getting the victory in a time of 3hr 46 mins 07 seconds for his 18th TDF win since 2008, beating Andre Greipel and riding himself into the Green Jersey.
Photo credit: ©Pool/Tim De Waele
"It's incredible to have the green jersey, it's the most beautiful jersey in the world, " said Cavendish after the race to the HTC Press Office.
"I have to thank my team-mates for the work they did today, even the guys who are in the top ten overall gave it one hundred percent and that shows what a great team we are."
"There are two more bunch sprints in this year's race, one in Montpellier and the other in Paris and I want to try to win both of them."
"It's not easy fighting for the green jersey but I'm going to keep going and try to keep hold of it right through to the end."
Thomas Voeckler stays in yellow.
Tomrrow's stage 12 is from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden and includes the Col du Tourmalet in a 211km stage and is live via our friends at ITV4 and Eurosport.