Back Cavendish for another sprint win.

Byline: Paul Charlton 

FOR once, the Tour de France provided few 'wish you were here' moments as Stage 13, from Vittel to Colmar, was run in driving rain rather than the blazing sunshine that we've seen over most of the past fortnight.

It was won by Heinrich Haussler, who spent nearly the whole day on the front after getting into the day's break. He claimed the stage win after descending best on the first category Col du Platzerwasel and soloing to the finish. It was the high point of what has been an excellent season for the Cervelo Test Team rider, who took took a stage win in Paris-Nice and finished second in two of the Spring Classics, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders.

It was on the Col du Platzerwasel that the polka dot jersey, Igoi Martinez, was dropped. Franco Pellizotti, tipped in RPSPORT to be King of the Mountains, finished the day as the top climber.

There was no movement on the general classification, although Brice Filleu, already a stage winner at Arcalis in his first Tour de France, launched a late attack to move into the top 20 and there was also good news for Bradley Wiggins in the morning as Levi Leipheimer abandoned with a broken wrist sustained in a crash near the end of Thursday's stage, moving the British rider into fourth place.

Thor Hushovd capped a good day for Cervelo Test Team, staying with the yellow jersey group and taking enough points to go back into green. He is on 205 points while Mark Cavendish, who finished some 23 minutes behind the winner, is on 200. Hushovd is 5-6 favourite to win the jersey, while Cavendish is out to evens.

The points competition and the sprinters look set to take centre stage today, with a relatively flat 199km from Colmar to Besancon only broken up by two third category climbs in the middle of the stage.

There are just three stages to go which are classified as flat, with 35 points on offer to the winner and, with Stage 19 into Aubenas sandwiched between the Time Trial and Mont Ventoux, this looks the more likely candidate for a final bunch sprint before the race finishes on the ChampsElysees.

Last year, the final flat stage before the Alps was won by Mark Cavendish in Nimes and the sprinters have come out on top in three of the last five flat transitional stages before the second bout of climbing.

Even the two stages that were won by breaks looked more promising than today's profile, as the stage in 2006 included a category two climb and three category fours and the stage in 2004, although completely flat, was sandwiched between a mountain-top finish at Plateau de Beille and the first of the Alpine stages.

More rain was forecast overnight in Besancon with the possibility of showers today, but any more wet weather shouldn't be a concern for Cavendish if it does come down to a sprint. He won his second Tour stage last year in pouring rain in Toulouse, with Gerald Ciolek, then his teammate at Columbia, finishing second.

Cavendish must be favourite if that is how the stage plays out - as well as his four stage wins, he has also won sprints for minor places on Stages 5 and 12, when the bunch finished behind breakaway riders.

The climbs will offer some opportunities to trade breakaway riders in running, but with the final climb over 90km from the finish there should be time for ColumbiaHTC to peg back an escape if they have not got too far up the road, but the 11-8 is big enough to be tempting.

Leonardo Duque appears to be getting stronger as the Tour goes on, and might be an interesting each-way alternative to the usual suspects.

The Colombian finished fourth and sixth on Stages 10 and 11 and stayed with the yellow jersey group yesterday, and this time last year he finished second in Digne-les-Bains in Stage 14.

50-1 Duque is a former Grand Tour stage winner too, sprinting for the win from a breakaway group in Stage 16 of the 2007 Vuelta a Espana.

Recommendation M Cavendish 1pt 11-8 Paddy Power

Stage 14 Colmar to Besancon Start 11.45am Finish 4.45pm (approx) Distance 199km Climbs two third categories (after 90.5km & 111.5km) Weather Some sun through cloud with a chance of rain. Wind 12mph. Max temperature 18C Riders remaining 164/180

CAPTION(S):

Mark Cavendish celebrates a stage win with his team-mates