Stage win for Cavendish

Mark Cavendish moved halfway towards Eddy Merckx's record haul of Tour de France stage wins as Bradley Wiggins crashed out.

Wiggins, who finished fourth in the 2009 Tour, tumbled to the tarmac with around 40 kilometres left of the 218km stage from Le Mans to Chateauroux, suffering a broken collar bone which saw him abandon a race he began with high hopes.
Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) then secured the 17th Tour stage victory of his career in trademark style, sprinting to the win ahead of last year's green jersey winner Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) and his former team-mate Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto).
Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) retained the race leader's yellow jersey, but the overall race is set to gather pace this weekend as the Tour enters the Massif Central before next week travelling to the Pyrenees and then onto the Alps.
The mountains are where the Tour is won and Wiggins was hoping to be in contention to become the first Briton on the Tour podium in Paris on July 24 after equalling Robert Millar's 1984 record two years ago.
Cavendish, who has been linked with a move to Team Sky in 2012, had sympathy for his compatriot.
The 26-year-old from the Isle of Man, who won Wednesday's fifth stage to Cap Frehel, said: "It's quite distressing to hear.
"He was on the form of his life and I really believed he would have done something here at the Tour de France.
"He was in great form. He was looking great in the last week and I'm really gutted for him and hope for a speedy recovery."
Belgian Merckx won 34 stages between 1969 and 1975 and won five successive Tours in that time.
Cavendish won four stages in 2008, six in 2009 and five in 2010.
The victory came at the scene of his first Tour triumph three years ago and Cavendish is determined to continue his prolific run.
Asked if he has a figure in mind, Cavendish said: "Absolutely not.
"There's just something about the Tour de France it just means so much. It's where I want to keep winning, keep doing well.
"As long as I'm a professional cyclist it's a stage I want to achieve on.