18 Jul 2009

Dean's sprint work on Tour de France wins praise

9:54 am on 18 July 2009

New Zealander Julian Dean's work as the set-up man for the Garmin team's sprint ace Tylee Farrar is drawing high praise on the Tour de France.

Farrar's belief that he can beat Mark Cavendish, the new sprint king on the Tour de France, in spite of another narrow miss.

American Farrar came second to the Briton in Wednesday's sprint finish as Cavendish took his fourth win on the race this year.

Farrar said he did not believe Cavendish was unbeatable and that he'd been in contention in in just about every sprint field to date, mainly thanks to Dean.

While Cavendish relies on several team mates to lead his sprints, Farrar, who beat Cavendish at the Tirreno-Adriatico race in March, has only Dean.

Seven-times winner Lance Armstrong certainly believes the Farrar-Dean combination still has a chance.

Armstrong says as long as Farrar has Dean to do his final wheel, he'll be OK.