The Livestream Diaries, Entry #5

Editor’s note: Dan Wuori is one of the funniest Twitter bards in the cycling world (follow him at @dwuori). This month, he will be expanding a bit beyond 140 characters to share periodic journals during the Tour de France. Today’s is the fifth.

Controversy was the order of the day Monday as Garmin-Cervelo’s Thor Hushovd and HTC-Columbia’s Mark Cavendish found themselves relegated from the day’s intermediate sprint — an action that could hold far-reaching implications in the battle for third and fourth place in the green jersey points competition. The riders made contact approximately 200 meters from the line in St. Hilaire des Chaleons after the Norwegian drifted off his line, leaving Cavendish no choice but to redirect him with his skull. Though the technique was deemed “perfectly legal and justified” by renowned head-butting authority, Dr. Mark Renshaw, race officials saw things differently and disqualified the pair from that sprint.

Hushovd would later suggest to race officials that he alone should be relegated, while Cavendish — not to be one-upped by the magnanimous GC leader — also sought to have Hushovd penalized.

The pair has a long and storied history of sprint relegations. During stage 14 of the 2009 Tour de France, Hushovd accused Cavendish of failing to hold his line as the pair approached a sprint finish in Besancon. Despite efforts to explain that he was holding both his own line and that of a friend who was running late, Cavendish was disqualified for irregular sprinting — helping Hushovd to ultimately secure the 2009 points classification.

Tuesday’s stage 4, meanwhile, was a thriller on the Mur-du-Brentagne as BMC’s Cadel Evans nipped defending champion* Alberto Contador at theline after marking the Spaniard’s attack on the steep final climb. The two narrowly edged Astana’s Alexander Vinokourov, who plans to retire from cycling at end of 2011 to pursue a career in films. The Kazakh has recently been cast as a villain in the upcoming James Bond thriller, Dr. O-Positive.

Despite the Aussie’s impressive stage win, Hushovd retained a one-second GC advantage over Evans and will begin Wednesday’s 164km sprint stage in yellow as his Garmin-Cervelo teammate Tyler Farrar — fresh off his July 4th stage win — seeks to establish dominance with a second big win of his own.

Dan’s Pick for stage 5: Look for Cavendish to control his urge to give Farrar “a piece of his mind” and pick up his first stage win of the 2011.