Britain's Mark Cavendish, riding for the Columbia team, won the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday — a 182.5km ride from Narbonne to Nimes, whilst Australian Cadel Evans retained the leader's yellow jersey once again.

Cavendish scored his fourth stage win of the event as he again proved master of the bunched sprint, edging out Australian Robbie McEwen of Silence and Frenchman Romain Feillu of Agritrubel to finish in 4hr 25min 42sec.

Cavendish — who hails from the Isle of Man — had already made history on Thursday when he became the first ever Briton to claim three stage wins in a single edition of the Tour, overtaking former British great Barry Hoban.

Friday saw the 23-year-old, in just his second Tour de France, score yet another win after his impressive team again set up his dash for the line before the Tour train heads for three Alpine stages.

Germany's Heinrich Haussler was fourth on the day ahead of Spaniard Oscar Freire.

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel attacked 8.5km out as he put 10sec between himself and the chasing pack, with German veteran Erik Zabel and Cavendish in hot pursuit and they reeled him in 3km from the finish.

AFP