Mark Cavendish keeps grip on green jersey

IT took Mark Cavendish just one day to show that after suffering in the Pyrenees, he isn't going to give up the green jersey without a fight.

Mark Cavendish

IT took Mark Cavendish just one day to show that after suffering and nearly being eliminated from the Tour de France in the Pyrenees, he isn't going to give up the green jersey without a fight.

The Manx Missile was launched to the finish line from a long way out by HTC-Highroad teammates, the Australian pair of Matt Goss and Mark Renshaw, after the rest of the squad had done all the work out on the road.

Once Cavendish latched onto the back wheel of Renshaw, after Goss was the last rider to stick his nose into the wind, it was game over, and he easily accounted for Tyler Farrar and Alessandro Petacchi.

"I couldn't let the guys down in the sprint after the way they rode all day," Cavendish said.

"It was even more gratifying after the pain and suffering of the last three days. It was just incredible, the guys have a great deal of confidence in me when it comes to the final sprint."

There was no change to the overall leaderboard heading into the second rest day, with all the main players finishing in the bunch after they had swept up both Mikhail Ignatiev and Niki Terpstra, the final two survivors of a group of five riders who had snuck away off the front just two kilometres into the stage.

Wisely, all the main contenders for general classification - Thomas Voeckler in the yellow jersey, the Schlecks and Cadel Evans - stayed out of trouble by riding at the front of the bunch at the business end of the stage when the wind shifted from behind to a fierce crosswind as they raced towards the finish line on the Avenue de Vanieres.