Cavendish scores hat-trick on drug-tainted day
Ricco tests positive
Mark Cavendish outpaced his fellow sprinters to take his third win in the Tour de France after it was hit again by a drugs scandal yesterday.
The Briton prevailed at the end of the 168.5-km 12th stage from Lavelanet that started without the Saunier-Duval team, who pulled out of the race after it was revealed Italian Riccardo Ricco had tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO.
Cavendish, who rides for Team Columbia, beat France's Sebastien Chavanel of La Francaise des Jeux with Belgian Geert Steegmans coming home third for Quick Step.
Asked about Ricco's positive test, Cavendish said: "It's a massive disappointment for the organisers but what matters is that you get the cheats."
Australian Cadel Evans, of the Silence-Lotto team, retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.
Two French riders, Samuel Dumoulin and Arnaud Gerard, pulled away after 25 km and were joined some 50 km from the line by Spain's Juan Jose Oroz.
The trio enjoyed a 90-second lead over a quiet peloton but were caught with 10 km to go.
Despite crashing earlier in the stage, Cavendish burst out some 150 metres from the line to show again he was one of the new sprint kings.
With Ricco and his team-mates out, Italian Vincenzo Nibali, of Liquigas, took the white jersey for the best young rider and German Sebastian Lang, of Gerolsteiner, the polka dot jersey for best climber.
Following last year's scandal-hit edition, organisers were hoping for a clean race but all their aspirations were wiped out following yesterday's news that Ricco had tested postive for doping.
The 24-year-old Ricco, runner-up in the Giro d'Italia and winner of two stages on the Tour, was tested after the fourth stage, a time trial in Cholet.
"The decision to leave was of the team and is not dictated by (Tour organisers) ASO," Saunier Duval sports director Matxin Fernandez told reporters.
"We suspend the activities of the team until we understand what has happened," Fernandez added.
Ricco became the third rider to test positive for EPO on the 2008 Tour after Spaniards Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas Nevado.