Mark Cavendish wins Stage 6 of Tour de France in mass sprint in Montauban

MONTAUBAN, France - British sprinter Mark Cavendish used his great tactical sense and impressive burst of speed to win the sixth stage of the Tour de France in a mass finish on Thursday.

It was Cavendish's third stage win of this Tour, his 29th overall.

Cavendish beat German sprinter Marcel Kittel by half a wheel, with Daniel McLay third.

Kittel opened the sprint but Cavendish waited patiently on his wheel before overtaking Kittel in the final 200 meters.

Cavendish left behind five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault to be alone in second on the all-time list of stage winners. Eddy Merckx holds the record with 34.

The stage took the peloton from Arpajon-sur-Cere to Montauban in southwestern France on a 190.5-kilometer ride.

Greg van Avermaet kept the yellow jersey ahead of Friday's first stage in the Pyrenees.

On a very hot day in southwestern France, Yukiya Arashiro and Jan Barta attacked from the off. The peloton did not chase and they built a comfortable lead of 4 1/2 minutes.

With temperature as high as 36 degrees (98 F), the breakaway riders' lead stated to decrease after the first intermediate sprint when Frenchman Bryan Coquard topped rivals Michael Matthews, Peter Sagan and Kittel in their battle for the best sprinter's green jersey.

They were reined in with 22 kilometers left after Coquard's Dimension Data team moved to the front of the pack to organize the chase. Late in the stage, a woman with a French flag tied around her neck rode on a white horse parallel to the peloton before the pace ramped up in the finale, with sprinters' lead-out trains jostling frantically for prime position.

On the eve of the first big mountain stage in the Pyrenees, Van Avermaet enjoyed a quiet day in the peloton, well protected by his BMC teammates.

Defending Tour champion Chris Froome stayed safely in the pack too, surrounded by his Sky teammates.

The 162.5 kilometers in Stage 7 feature the grueling ascent of the Category 1 Col Aspin, a 12.5-kilometer climb at an average gradient of 6.5 percent, as well as a very technical descent to the finish line at the Lac de Payolle.