The Isle of Man rider followed up his success on stage 12 yesterday with another dazzling display of his finishing speed in a sprint finish.

 

Robbie McEwan of the Silence-Lotto team was second with Agritubel's Roman Feillu in third.

 

Oscar Freire finished fifth to extend his lead in the green jersey.

 

Australian Cadel Evans again stays in yellow and his lead over Frank Schleck remains at a solitary second. Christian Vande Velde is still in third, a further 37 seconds adrift.

 

France's Florent Brard and Dutchman Niki Terpstra broke away in the first km and at one stage held an advantage of over 10 minutes to the peleton.

 

However, both men were eventually caught and although Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel jumped away 8km from the conclusion, the pack all came together in sight of the finishing line.

 

Cavendish was once again too good for the rest as he became the first man to win four stages on the same Tour since Italian spinter Alessandro Petacchi five years ago.

 

He said: "My first stage win is my favourite but today was the hardest.

 

"On the first stage the team held it together until the finish but today I used them up early, and so I was on my own a bit at the end.

 

"But I sprinted in my usual fashion and found a bit of space."

 

But he Tour was sadly once again overshadowed by news away from the racing, with Saunier Duval announcing they have Riccardo Ricco following his positive test for EPO.

 

As well as Ricco, the Spanish team also fired another Italian rider, Leonardo Piepoli, who was the winner of stage 10 in the Pyrenees.