Why Punish Renshaw and Not Cavendish?

Why punish the leadout man and not Cavendish? Because in this case Cav' isn't to blame (although he benefited from the illegal, unfair, dangerous, and shifty tactics of his right-hand man Mark Renshaw).

(You know what Mark Renshaw looks like, so how 'bout some bikini babe racer-chasers?)

To have punished Cavendish would have been just as unfair as the disgraceful riding of his teammate. Thus, the jury took the only decision it could, given the intent to send a strong message against further incidents of road rage - booting Renshaw from the race.

As Farrar wryly noted after the finish, before news of Renshaw's ejection began to circulate, what would have been the impact of declassifying Renshaw from 30th place to last place? There wouldn't have been an effect, of course, other than to reinforce official tolerance for such dishonorable behavior.

And so, in a rare show of strength and character, the race jury told Renshaw to sprint for the hills and get the hell out of the Tour de France!

Note: some commentators prematurely credited Cavendish with displaying a new-found maturity in accepting the punishment given to his pilot fish. But not so fast - Cav' clearly has not grown-up and is convinced that he is the peloton's most persecuted sprinter: "It's always us, isn't it? There were two guys fighting the other day. I can't really make a comment."