Tour de France: Tour joy for Mark Cavendish

Cavendish got a huge lead-out from his Omega Pharma-Quick Step squad - beaten by Orica GreenEdge in yesterday's team time trial by a single second - and came off the wheel of Gert Steegmans to break for the line, holding off Boasson Hagen while Andre Greipel came in third and points leader Peter Sagan was fourth.

The victory on stage five leaves Cavendish one shy of Andre Leducq's 25 Tour stage wins, third on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx (34) and Bernard Hinault (28), and he will fancy his chances of matching Leducq on tomorrow's flat stage to Montpellier.

There were questions over Cavendish's health coming into the day after the 28-year-old revealed he had been battling an infection in the days leading up to the Tour, keeping quiet about the condition in the hope of leading his rivals astray.

They might have got wind of it as he was dropped in the Corsican mountains, but in the city where he rode in his first professional race, the 2007 Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise - won by Britain's Jeremy Hunt - he looked back on form.

"The pressure is now off, for sure because we've won a stage of the Tour de France," Cavendish said. "It would have been nice to win yesterday but it's not to be underestimated how hard it is to get one stage win on this race...

"I didn't feel great today but when the guys are committed like they were - not just in the final, but all the way today - it's important to pay them back.

"They show their motivation by riding themselves into the ground and, like I always say, that really does give you something extra...

"If I'd lost that sprint, I really wasn't paying the lads back."

Such had been Cavendish's condition, there were suggestions Omega Pharma-Quick Step would sit back today and leave others to contest the finish.

But instead they had eight riders on the front in the final kilometres, with world time trial champion Tony Martin able to play a major role despite the catalogue of injuries he suffered in an opening day crash.

They came to the Statue de David and the last of the record 55 roundabouts in today's stage perfectly placed and Cavendish took full advantage.

"I'm super happy," said Cavendish, who left Team Sky in the winter having been frustrated by their focus on the general classification.

"This is what I was employed for at Omega Pharma-Quick Step: to come here and win stages and we did that today."

The win also puts Cavendish level with Bernard Hinault with 42 all-time Grand Tour victories, with only four riders ahead of them - Merkcx (64), Mario Cipollini (57), Alessandro Petacchi (48) and Alfredo Binda (43).

More immediately, it vaults Cavendish up the points standings in this year's Tour, with a gap to Sagan which had stood at 49 cut to 35 as Cavendish moved into second place on 76.

"I lost a couple of points [to Cavendish] but that's okay, the important thing is to not lose too many," Sagan said

"Mark is the fastest man in the world, it's almost impossible to beat him."

Earlier in the stage, the peloton had passed through Brignoles, scene of a Cavendish stage win in 2009, but at that stage they were still eight minutes behind an early breakaway whose lead had at one point reached 12 minutes 45 seconds.

It was formed of Europcar's Yukiya Arashiro and Kevin Reza, Euskaltel-Euskadi's Romain Sicard, Thomas De Gendt of Vaconsoleil, Anthony Delaplace of Sojasun and Astana rider Alexey Lutsenko, and it was not until four kilometres from the line that the last of their number, Lutsenko, was caught.

As Cavendish sprinted for victory there was a crash in the peloton 200 metres from the line, ensuring that all riders were awarded the same time.

That meant no change in the general classification, still led by Orica GreenEdge's Simon Gerrans from team-mates Daryl Impey and Michael Albasini, while it is Cavendish's supporting acts Michal Kwiatkowski and Sylvain Chavanel in fourth and fifth, one second back.

There were no dramas for any of the main contenders, although Team Sky did suffer two punctures on the third anniversary of their Tour debut.

One was for Chris Froome's chief lieutenant Richie Porte while the other affected the luckless Geraint Thomas, who had to endure more pain on his cracked pelvis as he stopped to change his wheel and then grimaced as he was pushed back on to the road.

A crash 16km from the Marseille seafront knocked stage one winner Marcel Kittel out of contention for today's sprint finish as the peloton was split, although all of those involved climbed back on.

The field had been reduced to 195 before the start, with Cannondale rider Ted King eliminated after he failed to finish yesterday's team time trial within the required time, the American missing out by just seven seconds as he dealt with injuries suffered on the opening stage.

Leading final positions after Stage 5 (Cagnes-sur-mer - Marseille, 228.5km): 1 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 5hrs 31mins 51secs, 2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling, 3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling, 4 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol, 5 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida, 6 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, 7 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi, 8 Ramunas Navardauskas (Lit) Garmin-Sharp, 9 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Sojasun, 10 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team, 11 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 12 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano, 13 Daryl Impey (Rsa) Orica-GreenEdge, 14 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team, 15 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 16 Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits, 17 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling, 18 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step, 19 Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team, 20 Julien El Fares (Fra) Sojasun all at same time

Selected others: 28 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Sky Procycling 5hrs 31mins 51secs, 99 Peter Kennaugh (Gbr) Sky Procycling at same time, 182 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Sky Procycling at 10mins 08secs, 183 David Millar (Gbr) Garmin-Sharp at same time, 190 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Sky Procycling at same time

General classification after stage 5: 1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 18hrs 19mins 15secs, 2 Daryl Impey (Rsa) Orica-GreenEdge at same time, 3 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge at same time, 4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 0.01sec, 5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at same time, 6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling at 0.03, 7 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Sky Procycling at same time, 8 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling at same time, 9 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at 0.09, 10 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at same time, 11 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at same time, 12 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff at same time, 13 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol at 0.17, 14 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp at same time, 15 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol at same time, 16 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp at same time, 17 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp at same time, 18 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp at same time, 19 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team at 0.20, 20 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team at same time

Selected others: 90 Peter Kennaugh (Gbr) Sky Procycling at 9mins 18secs, 95 David Millar (Gbr) Garmin-Sharp at 10.25, 146 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 26.50, 176 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Sky Procycling at 36.11, 183 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Sky Procycling at 37.45