Cavendish lands another Tour stage

Tour de France:Mark Cavendish left his tears behind and was all smiles as he powered to his second sprint victory in succession in the longest stage of the Tour de France, the 227.5-kilometre ride from Montargis to Gueugnon.

The Briton, in tears in Montargis after his first stage victory on this Tour, made the best of the Team Columbia train to win ahead of American Tyler Farrar and Italy's Alessandro Petacchi.

"I'm really happy, really happy," said a composed Cavendish.

The result meant the Briton drew level with sprint legends such as Mario Cipollini, Erik Zabel and Australian Robbie McEwen with 12 Tour stage wins.

"Now it's okay, I can talk today. Yesterday was so emotional," added Cavendish, paying homage to his Columbia team who again delivered perfectly at the end of an arduous trip in scorching heat.

German Bert Grabsch led from the two kilometre mark, followed by team leader Michael Rodgers. Then German Tony Martin took over and passed the baton to Bernhard Eisel. It was then up to lead-out man Mark Renshaw to do his part before Cavendish surged to seal a perfect team effort.

"They're a bunch of special guys. It's not just a team of eight, it's a unit. I'm just part of the machine," added Cavendish.

While Swiss Fabian Cancellara retained his yellow jersey ahead of the first mountain stage in this Tour, the Manx, sporting green sunglasses, started to talk of the points classification green jersey again.

"Green is my favourite colour. I'll go for it. But maybe it's not within my reach anymore," he said.

Norway's Thor Hushovd, the green jersey holder, finished 10th and admitted he should beware of Cavendish and Petacchi in future sprints.

The Norwegian, involved in a bitter dispute with Cavendish in the last Tour, even made a surprising confession: "He is still the best sprinter in the world."

The mass sprint was the logical conclusion to the longest day in this Tour, spent in the hottest temperatures as well.

But there was a brief moment of excitement, seven kilometres from the line, when Lance Armstrong's Radio Shack team mates seized the reins of the peloton to try and take advantage of side-winds to split the bunch.

"We were hoping it would be open. But it wasn't," Armstrong said.

Sensing trouble was looming, the Astana team mates of Tour champion Alberto Contador reacted and for two kilometres, the leading contenders for final victory were spotted in the front, a very unusual position in such a stage finish.

Ireland's Nicholas Roche finished in the group three seconds behind Cavendish and in 42nd place.

They will be on a more familiar terrain in tomorrow's 165.5 kilometre seventh stage to the ski resort of Les Rousses which comprises the first serious climbs in this Tour.