Tour de France: Sprint king Cavendish powers to first British stage win for five years

The Isle of Man rider for Team Columbia, who also won two stages in this year's Giro d'Italia, held off late attacks from Thor Hushovd, Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel, and pulled away from his rivals in the final metres.  

Sitting pretty: Mark Cavendish sits up in the saddle after springting to victory on the fifth stage of the Tour

The 232km stage was the longest in this year's Tour and was led almost from start to finish by three breakaway riders.  

The French trio of Lilian Jegou, Florent Brard and national champion Nicolas Vogondy opened up a gap of more than eight minutes, which was slowly whittled away by the chasing peloton.  

Vogondy broke away from his compatriots in the final 1.5km, only to be overhauled by the sprinters around 30 metres from the line. 

Cavendish is the first British sprint victor since Barry Hoban in 1975.

Fist-pumping: Mark Cavendish crosses the line

There is no change in the overall lead, with Stefan Schumacher holding on to the yellow jersey, 12 seconds ahead of Kim Kirchen and Britain's David Millar.

Meanwhile, Juan Mauricio Soler has become the first major casualty of the 2008 Tour de France after the reigning King of the Mountains was forced to withdraw from the race with a wrist injury.  

The Colombian climber fractured a bone in Saturday's opening stage, from Brest to Plumelec, and struggled through the next three days before suffering another fall in the neutral zone on Wednesday, before the long, flat stage from Cholet to Chateauroux.  

Soler tried to continue but was withdrawn by his Barloworld team.  

With this year's hilly race heading into the Massif Central tomorrow, the Tour is robbed of one its most talented climbers.  

Soler, 25, won the polka dot jersey in his first Tour, after a stunning breakaway climb on stage nine last year, on the Alpine pass of the Col du Galibier.  

He attacked in the Pyrenees to secure the mountains jersey, the third Colombian after Luis Herrera and Santiago Botero to achieve the feat.

Stage Result
1. Mark Cavendish (Britain / Columbia )  5hr 27min 52 ec
2. Oscar Freire (Spain / Rabobank )
3. Erik Zabel (Germany / Milram )
4. Thor Hushovd (Norway / Credit Agricole )
5. Baden Cooke (Australia / Barloworld )
6. Robert Hunter (South Africa / Barloworld )
7. Leonardo Duque (Colombia / Cofidis )
8. Robbie McEwen (Australia / Silence - Lotto )
9. Francesco Chicchi (Italy / Liquigas )
10. Julian Dean (New Zealand / Garmin - Chipotle ) all same time

Overall Standings
1. Stefan Schumacher (Germany / Gerolsteiner )  19hr 32min 33sec
2. Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg / Columbia ) +12 secs
3. David Millar (Britain / Garmin - Chipotle ) same time
4. Cadel Evans (Australia / Silence - Lotto ) +21"
5. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland / Team CSC ) +33"
6. Christian Vandevelde (U.S. / Garmin - Chipotle ) +37"
7. George Hincapie (U.S. / Columbia ) +41"
8. Thomas Lovkvist (Sweden / Columbia ) +47"
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Liquigas ) +58"
10. Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) +1:01"

Barry Hoban was the last Briton to win a sprint stage on the tour in 1975