Tour de France 2009: Mark Cavendish sprints to third stage win

The peloton might have been staging an unofficial go slow on Tuesday but Mark Cavendish was still racing like a bat out of hell at the end and duly pulled off his third stage win of the 2009 Tour de France to narrow the gap on Norway's Thor Hushovd in an increasingly close and exciting tussle for the coveted green jersey.

The 10th stage – from Limoges to Issoudun – was always one of Cavendish's bankers as along as he came through the Pyrennes safely. Only a slight uphill finish presented anything unusual and so it proved although the teak-tough Hushovd raced hard for second place to preserve his lead, at least for one more day. Cavendish's efforts garnered 35 points, Hushovd's 30 and the battle for Tour de France green is clearly about to get red hot.

Wednesday's stage between Vatan and Saint Fargeau presents more opportunities for the sprinters as does Thursday's run between Tonnerre and Vittle; after a testing Friday in the Vosges mountains the Colmar-Besancon stage on Saturday remains the final realistic opportunity of points for the quick men before the finale down the Champs Elysees a week on Saturday.

Big tour wins are becoming common place for Cavendish but it is worth reiterating that in the last 15 months he has now accumulated seven separate Tour de France victories and five individual wins in the Giro d'Italia not to mention another position atop the podium in the team time-trial at this year's Giro.

Events on Tuesday were both predictable and curious. On Bastille Day it was entirely in keeping with the usual script on these occasions for a group of French riders – Benoît Vaugrenard, Thierry Hupond and Samuel Dumoulin – to disappear up the road in an early break fulfilling a vague desire to satisfy national pride. They, as ever, were joined by the perennially aggressive Mikhail Ignatiev who is alway spoiling for a fight.

The peloton initially stirred themselves enough to ensure the break wasn't decisive – this was going to be a day for the sprinters and nothing was going to threaten that – but then held them at arms length for most of the afternoon is a strange stand-off.

You could argue that so early in the race it was not in the sprinters teams interest to close the gap and leave themselves open to another attack but the conspiracy theorists point instead to the UCI's decision that for this stage – and indeed Friday's – teams were banned from using radio communication between riders and team managers.

The vast majority of the peloton were much angered by this and all but two teams signed a petition of protest to the UCI who themselves have been keen to react to suggestions that the extensive use of radios has made racing too boring and too controlled with little opportunity for individual initiative, a theory that was heavily challenged after a cracking first week of action.

In stage 10 the only information on the road was the old fashioned chalkboard time differences displayed by the motorbike couriers which is far from reliable and definitive. The result was comfortably the most boring day of the tour thus far, something which will not altogether displease the peloton.

As far as the overall lead goes there was no change at the very and, unless something dramatic happens in the Vosges on Friday, it will probably stay like that all the way to the Alps on Sunday. All of which is exceptionally good news for the unheralded Rinaldo Nocentini who could be in yellow for a good while yet after maintaining his six-second lead over Alberto Contador with Lance Armstrong a further two seconds adrift.

There was, however, a slightly disappointment for Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins who lost 15 seconds, along with fellow contender Levi Leipheimer, and dropped down to seventh, 1 min 1 sec behind Nocentini. His priority now must be conserving energy and ensuring the easiest possible passage as he faces the biggest challenge of his career in trying to stay with Contador, Armstrong and others in the high mountains from Sunday onwards.

Tour de France details

Stage 10: 194.5km, Limoges-Issoudun:

1 M Cavendish (GB, Columbia) 4h 46m 43s; 2 T Hushovd (Norway, Cervelo); 3 T Farrar (US, Garmin); 4 L Duque (Colombia, Cofidis); 5 J J Rojas (Spain, Caisse d’Epargne); 6 L Mondory (France, AG2R) same time; 7 K van Hummel (Holland, Skil-Shimano); 8 W Bonnet (France, Bbox Bouygues); 9 D Bennati (Italy, Liquigas); 10 S Haddou (France, Bbox Bouygues) all same time.

Other: 17 N Roche (Ireland, AG2R) same time as Cavendish; 64 B Wiggins (GB, Garmin); 151 C Wegelius (GB, Silence-Lotto); 154 D Millar (GB, Garmin) all at 15s.

Overall: 1 R Nocentini (Italy, AG2R) 39h 11m 04s; 2 A Contador (Spain, Astana) at 6s; 3 L Armstrong (US, Astana) 8; 4 A Kloeden (Germany, Astana) 54; 5 L Leipheimer (US, Astana) same time; 6 T Martin (Germany, Columbia) 1-00; 7 Wiggins 1-01; 8 C Vande Velde (US, Garmin) 1-24; 9 A Schleck (Luxembourg, Saxo Bank) 1-49; 10 V Nibali (Italy, Liquigas) 1-54.

Other: 50 Roche 16-45; 62 Millar 27-33; 80 Wegelius 35-55; 135 Cavendish 1h 13m 54s.

Points: 1 Hushovd 147; 2 Cavendish 141; 3 Rojas 97.

Mountains: 1 E Martinez (Spain, Euskatel) 78pts; 2 C Kern (France, Cofidis) 59; 3 F Pellizotti (Italy, Liquigas) 55.

Team: 1 AG2R 115h 59m 24s; 2 Astana at 3s; 3 Columbia 4m 45s.

Young riders: 1 Martin 39h 12m 04s; 2 A Schleck at 49s; 3 Nibali 54.