Cavendish aims to stay in the green at Tour de France

The Briton won won a rainy 11th stage in a mass sprint yesterday, easily beating Greipel at the line to seize the leading sprinter's green jersey.

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LAVAUR, France // Briton's Mark Cavendish won a rainy 11th stage of the Tour de France in a mass sprint yesterday, easily beating Andre Greipel of Germany at the line to seize the leading sprinter's green jersey.

Cavendish made the most of the last stage designed for sprinters before the race reaches the Pyrenees to claim his 18th stage win at the Tour and his third in this year's race.

"My most dangerous point is my acceleration," said Cavendish. "I'm super happy. I hope I get to keep the green jersey this year. We've been fighting for it all along."

Cavendish, who took the jersey from Philippe Gilbert of Belgium, now leads Jose Joaquin Rojas by 16 points.

Thomas Voeckler, the French rider, kept the race leader's yellow jersey after the 167.5 kilometre trek from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur. Voeckler finished 75th in the stage but with the same time as the winner.

Despite his impressive tally of stage wins in the Tour, the coveted sprint champion's jersey has so far eluded the 26-year-old Cavendish.

He was second last year, 11 points behind Alessandro Petacchi of Italy, and second by 10 points to Thor Hushovd in 2009.

Cavendish's win was revenge for his loss to Greipel in Tuesday's stage, when his former teammate surged ahead to claim his first win on the Tour.

* Associated Press