{{British sprinter Mark Cavendish finally hit form to win the fifth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Wednesday and Australian veteran Simon Gerrans kept the yellow jersey.}}<\/p>\n
Cavendish made a poor start to the Tour but this 24th career Tour stage win will boost his confidence and launch his bid to win the sprinters\u2019 green jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super happy,\u201d Cavendish said. \u201cNow the pressure\u2019s off and hopefully it has started the ball rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a few hundred meters to go, Cavendish sat on his teammate Gert Steegmans\u2019 wheel and got into a perfect position to attack and held off a challenge from Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen.<\/p>\n
Peter Sagan, who leads the green jersey contest, finished in third place. But Cavendish pulled back to within 35 points in second place overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m motivated, I\u2019ve got good form and a great team around me,\u201d Cavendish said, praising Steegmans. \u201cHe did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 84-year-old Andre Darrigade, who won 22 Tour stages as a sprinter, warmly greeted Cavendish after his win.<\/p>\n
Cavendish needs one more stage win to tie Andre Leducq for third on the Tour\u2019s all-time list of stage winners, and he could do that on Thursday as stage six again favors sprinters.<\/p>\n
If he does that, he could eye Bernard Hinault\u2019s 28 wins, the second-highest total after Eddie Merckx\u2019s imperious record of 34.<\/p>\n
While Cavendish was raising his arms in triumph, behind him there was more chaos as about a dozen riders hit the tarmac in a crash. It was unclear who caused it.<\/p>\n
The 228.5-kilometer (142-mile) route featured some small climbs but was otherwise flat, starting out from the tourist beach resort of Cagnes-sur-Mer and finishing in the southern sea port of Marseille.<\/p>\n
It was a quiet afternoon with the pack rolling along at a slow pace until a crash toward the end brought down 15-20 riders.<\/p>\n
Gerrans held off Sagan to win Monday\u2019s third stage in a sprint finish and helped his Orica Greenedge team to narrowly win Tuesday\u2019s time trial on stage four in a Tour record time. It was enough to take the leader\u2019s jersey from Belgian Jan Bakelants.<\/p>\n
Gerrans is only the sixth Australian to wear the yellow jersey \u2013 the first was Phil Anderson in 1981 \u2013 and to celebrate Orica Greenedge took the start line with yellow helmets on.<\/p>\n
Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro and Frenchman Kevin Reza formed part of an early six-man breakaway group.<\/p>\n
None has even won a Tour stage, so the pack let them go. They opened up a lead of more than 10 minutes, which was whittled down to about eight minutes when the peloton reached the foot of the day\u2019s third small climb.<\/p>\n
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