The Briton, in tears in Montargis after his first stage victory on this Tour, confirmed he was back to his best, winning easily ahead of American Tyler Farrar and Italy's Alessandro Petacchi, also the winner of two stages on this Tour.

Perfectly set for the final stretch by his lead-out man Mark Renshaw, Cavendish was devastating when he powered his way to his 12th career win on the Tour.

The overall leader's yellow jersey remained with Swiss Fabian Cancellara ahead of the first mountain stage in the Tour.

Three riders spent more than 200 km at the front but Mathieu Perget, Sebastian Lang and Ruben Perez, later joined by Frenchmen Anthony Charteau and Dimitri Champion, were caught with 10 km to go.

The peloton tackles its first serious climbs on Saturday in a 165.5-km seventh stage to the skiing resort of Les Rousses.