Tour de France 2010: Renshaw Kicked Out; Cavendish Wins 11th Stage

HTC Columbia saw its top sprinter, Mark Cavendish, win another Tour de France stage, but the victory came at a price as the team’s lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, was given the boot after a mad scramble towards the end of Thursday’s 11th stage.

Tour officials expelled Renshaw after he head-butted Garmin-Transitions lead-out man Julian Dean, who was leading the stage when the incident happened. The head-butts forced Dean to slowdown, clearing the way for Cavendish to win the sprint with Alessandro Petacchi and Dean’s teammate, Tyler Farrar, coming in third.

Officials said Renshaw was given the “severe” punishment as his offense was considered “flagrant.” The Switzerland-based UCI, cycling’s governing body, said Renshaw’s actions constituted an “illegal sprint.”

The chaos did not affect the top contenders for the overall championship as Andy Schleck of Luxembourg and Alberto Contador of Spain maintained their top-two spots in the general classification.

Schleck, who has now been wearing the yellow jersey for three days, leads Contador by 41 seconds going into Friday’s 130.7-mile 12th stage from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende.