( CNN ) -- The Tour de France remains one of the few prestigious events where spectators can almost reach out and touch the riders -- or throw urine on them as Mark Cavendish found out Wednesday . The British rider , who was absolved of any wrongdoing following a collision with Tom Veelers just 24 hours earlier , was the target of an angry fan as he rode through the 33 kilometer individual time trial between Avranches and Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy . Cycling fans are very much split over Cavendish -- with some unimpressed by his perceived arrogance and large ego , while others love his insatiable desire to win . Cavendish refused to speak about the incident after being doused with urine by an irate spectator during an afternoon which he will quickly want to forget . His Omega Pharm teammate Tony Martin won the 11th stage with Chris Froome retaining the yellow jersey , but it was Cavendish who was again in the limelight . `` It is disappointing to hear about one individual like that , '' Froome told reporters of the incident after extending his lead to three minutes and 25 seconds . `` That 's one of the beauties of our sport . Anyone can come and watch at the side of the road and enjoy the excitement and really get close to the top riders in the world . `` Mark is one of the big characters in the sport , and some people love him , some people hate him . `` But to do something disrespectful like that , that 's really sad . It ruins the whole atmosphere . '' While it is thought to be the first time a cyclist has been assaulted in such a way during the Tour , there have been other instances where riders have been abused . In 1975 , Eddy Merckx was punched in the kidneys during his quest to claim a sixth Tour victory , while Lance Armstrong was given bodyguards in 2004 after being subjected to death threats . Cavendish has endured a couple of miserable days , missing out on a 25th stage win on Tuesday , while slipping 103 points adrift of green jersey leader Peter Sagan . Meanwhile , Omega Pharm team manager Patrick Lefevere revealed that Cavendish was feeling 'sad ' following the incident . `` I regret this , I always felt that cycling fans were gentlemen , enthusiastic people , '' he told reporters . `` Mark is sad , he 's not upset , just sad . I can not blame anyone , there are 100,000 or 200,000 people on the road , and one person decided to do this . '' On the road , Martin claimed an expected victory in the time trial after finishing 12 seconds ahead of Froome . Martin , who had won his previous nine time trials in all competitions , finished the course with the third fastest time ever recorded on the Tour . But the German revealed he began to worry when Froome appeared to be challenging for victory . `` To be honest , I 'd almost given up hope of the stage win , '' he told reporters . `` It was starting to look very disappointing when I saw Chris beat my times at the intermediate check . `` I nearly started to cry . I could n't believe it . I expected that Froome might get to within 30 seconds or something like that but not beating me at the intermediates . `` Now I 'm really happy and maybe it 's nicer to win this way . ''
Mark Cavendish has urine thrown at him during 11th stage of the Tour de France . Incident comes day after collision with Tom Veelers . The incident occurred on a climb between Saint-Gaudens and La Toussuire in southern France. Germany 's Tony Martin won the 33 kilometer time trial .