Cavendish has been out of contention in the sprints so far, but he powered around the outside of the bunch to beat Philip Gilbert to the line. The gradient favoured Gilbert, who won on similar terrain a few days before, but the Manxman went the long way around to edge him out.
There were several attacks going in to the final 3 kilometres, including Thomas Voeckler in a last ditch attempt to stay out in front. The attack proved futile and he was quickly swallowed up by the peloton. As the group passed under the flamme rouge Tony Martin and Matt Goss were leading Cavendish out.
Edvald Boasson Hagen decided he wanted to go it alone, as Goss eased up and left a bewildered Tony Martin out on his own, and took a good hundred metres on the group before running out of steam. While all the eyes were on Gilbert and, green jersey holder, Jose Joaquin Rojas it was Cavendish who got the edge. Victory gives the Manx-express a boost in the sprinters contest, after having points deducted in stage 3 for irregular riding in an intermediate sprint.
Aptly named Tony Gallopin took fourth behind Gilbert and Rojas, while white jersey holder Geraint Thomas rounded off the top five. Race leader Thor Hushovd kept himself in yellow for yet another day with some good sprinting. The Norwegian has had the jersey since day two and has produced good sprints every day since, to keep hold of the jersey.
An early break from five riders, including the maillot vert Rojas, proved successful and they were finally caught with 40km to go. As the speed increased Voeckler and compatriot Jeremy Roy took their opportunity to go it together. The bunch still had the edge and caught the pair with 2km to the finish line.
High winds caused problems in the peloton, with riders falling of their bikes left, right and centre. Most seriously was RadioShack’s leader Janez Brajkovic fell and took Robert Gesink down at the same time. The Serbian was on the floor for a couple of minutes, before he was attended to, he was eventually carried off on a stretcher, but had been standing up. While Brajkovic was being looked at three times Tour winner Alberto Contador also hit the deck, but was back on his bike pretty quickly. GC contender Bradley Wiggins had already been caught up in a multiple rider crash, but no one was injured too badly.
Niki Sorensen had a heart stopping moment, as he got caught with one of the support bikes and dragged along the road before being deposited on the side of the road. Tom Boonen became the fourth Quick-Step rider to come in to contact with the tarmac after Gert Steegmans, Jerome Pineau and Sylvain Chavanel all crashed too.
Despite all the crashing there was only one other withdrawal from the tour; Christophe Kern dropped out with ingoing tendonitis.
Tomorrow’s stage is slightly lumpier, with three categorised climbs, giving the climbers a chance to take some points.
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