Sweet sixteen for Cav

Mark Cavendish wins fifth stage of Le Tour

Mark Cavendish of HTC Columbia won the fifth stage of the Tour De France after an action packed day on the coast of Brittany.

After crashes to both G.C. contenders Bradley Wiggins and Alberto Contador, the former changing winds perhaps due his bike twice, and with riders littering the gutters of the picturesque French roads, perhaps due to the cross to the narrow roads, big crashes to big names Tom Boonen and RadioShack's Janez Brajkovic who had to abandon, made this stage one of attrition.

 Despite all these difficulties Cavendish came to the fore pulling out from behind impressive Geraint Thomas to edge the uphill sprint over stage one winner Phillipe Gilbert, putting him in fourth place in the sprinters competition.

Cavendish was earlier involved in another moment of controversy in the intermediate sprint, this time the officials going with him and disqualifying both Green jersey leader Rojas and Boonen after they swung dangerously across the Manxman’s path.

With no other changes time wise at the top, Cav now sits ninth on the all time list of stage wins, phenomenal when you consider that he is still only 26.