Cavendish wins 18th stage

Spaniard Alberto Contador retained the yellow jersey with his eight-second lead on Andy Schleck still intact, a day ahead of the race's final time trial over 52km.

Cavendish meanwhile gave a sprinting master class to his rivals on what was one of the last stages likely to finish in a bunch sprint.

The HTC-Columbia rider, who has been missing lead-out man Mark Renshaw since the Australian's exclulsion from the race last week, came over the line with room to spare after following Alessandro Petacchi's wheel in the last 400 metres.

Lampre rider Petacchi finished third behind Kiwi Julian Dean, of Garmin-Transitions, but did enough to take back the green jersey for the sprinters' points competition from Norwegian Thor Hushovd.

Cervelo sprinter Hushovd was well placed in the final kilometre but lost ground when two-stage winner Petacchi veered to the left of the road, creating a new echelon which an alert Cavendish did well to follow.

Cavendish then powered past Petacchi with relative ease, and had time to sit up and look back at his rivals before crossing the finish line in victory.

Isle of Man rider Cavendish has now won four stages on the race, to go with the six he won in 2009 and four he won in 2008.

He is also back in the running for the green jersey, an objective he began the race with but had to forget about after a disastrous first week of racing.

After the time trial on Saturday, the sprinters are likely to be back in action on Sunday when the race finishes on the Champs Elysees in Paris, where Cavendish won his sixth stage of last year's edition.

Race results

1. Mark Cavendish, Britain, Team HTC-Columbia, 4 hours, 37 minutes, 9 seconds..

2. Julian Dean, New Zealand, Garmin-Transitions, same time.

3. Alessandro Petacchi, Italy, Lampre-Farnese, same time.

4. Robbie McEwen, Australia, Katusha, same time.

5. Oscar Freire, Spain, Rabobank, same time.

6. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norway, Sky Pro Cycling, same time.

7 Jurgen Roelandts, Belgium, Omega Pharma-Lotto, same time.

8. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Spain, Caisse d'Epargne, same time.

9. Grega Bole, Slovenia, Lampre-Farnese, same time.

10. Ruben Perez Moreno, Spain, same time.

11. Sebastien Turgot, France, BBOX Bouygues Telecom, same time.

12. Anthony Roux, France, Francaise des Jeux, same time.

13. Lloyd Mondory, France, AG2R La Mondiale, same time.

14. Thor Hushovd, Norway, Cervelo Test Team, same time.

15. Alessandro Ballan, Italy, BMC Racing Team, same time.

16. Yukiya Arashiro, Japan, BBOX Bouygues Telecom, same time.

17. Martijn Maaskant, Netherlands, Garmin-Transitions, same time.

18. Nicolas Roche, Ireland, AG2R La Mondiale, same time.

19. Aleksandr Kuchynski, Belarus, Liquigas-Doimo, same time.

20. Alan Perez, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, same time. ^Also=

28. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium, Omega Pharma-Lotto, same time.

34. Samuel Sanchez, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, same time.

35. Denis Menchov, Russia, Rabobank, same time.

36 Robert Gesink, Netherlands, Rabobank, same time.

52. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg, Team Saxo Bank, same time.

56. Alberto Contador, Spain, Astana, same time.

Overall Standings

1. Alberto Contador, Spain, Astana, 88 hours, 9 minutes, 48 seconds.

2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg, Team Saxo Bank, 8 seconds behind.

3. Samuel Sanchez, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 3:32.

4. Denis Menchov, Russia, Rabobank, 3:53.

5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium, Omega Pharma-Lotto, 5:27.

6. Robert Gesink, Netherlands, Rabobank, 6:41.

7. Joaquin Rodriguez, Spain, Katusha, 7:03.

8. Ryder Hesjedel, Canada, Garmin-Transitions, 9:18.

9. Roman Kreuziger, Czech Republic, Liquigas-Doimo, 10:12.

10. Christopher Horner, United States, Team RadioShack, 10:37.

11. Luis-Leon Sanchez, Spain, Caisse d'Epargne, 12:46.

12. Ruben Plaza, Spain, Caisse d'Epargne, 13:01.

13. Levi Leipheimer, United States, Team RadioShack, 14:24.

14. Andreas Kloeden, Germany, Team RadioShack, 14:44.

15. Nicolas Roche, Ireland, AG2R La Mondiale, 16:00.

16. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan, Astana, 17:57.

17. John Gadret, France, AG2R La Mondiale, 17:59.

18. Thomas Lovkvist, Sweden, Sky Pro Cycling, 18:30.

19. Kevin De Weert, Belgium, Quick Step, 20:03.

20. Daniel Moreno, Spain, Omega Pharma-Lotto, 25:23.

Points standings

1. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/LAM) 213 pts

2. Thor Hushovd (NOR/CTT) 203

3. Mark Cavendish (GBR/THR) 197

4. Jos? Joaquin Rojas (ESP/GCE) 167

5. Robbie McEwen (AUS/KAT) 162

6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 152

7. S?bastien Turgot (FRA/BTL) 122

8. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 115

9. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 112

10. Andy Schleck (LUX/SAX) 107

King of Mountains:

1. Anthony Charteau (FRA/BTL) 143 pts

2. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 128

3. Andy Schleck (LUX/SAX) 116

4. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 112

5. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 99

6. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 96

7. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 93

8. J?r?me Pineau (FRA/QST) 92

9. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/BTL) 82

10. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/BTL) 72

Team stage:

1. Lampre 13h51:27.

2. Bbox - Bouygues at 0:00.

3. Garmin 0:00.

4. Euskaltel 0:00.

5. Rabobank 0:00.

Team overall:

1. RadioShack 264h36:07.

2. Caisse d'Epargne at 8:30.

3. Rabobank 33:39.

4. AG2R 37:58.

5. Omega Pharma - Lotto 50:16.

6. Astana 54:40.

7. Quick-Step 1h05:07.

8. Euskaltel 1h16:15.

9. Liquigas 1h24:41.

10. Bbox - Bouygues 1h52:06.

11. Team Sky 2h09:07.

12. Cofidis 2h27:48.

13. Saxo Bank 2h32:46.

14. BMC Racing 2h33:52.

15. Fran?aise des Jeux 2h58:04.

16. Garmin 3h22:04.

17. Katyusha 3h25:10.

18. HTC - Columbia 3h35:12.

19. Cervelo 3h53:41.

20. Footon 5h10:34.

21. Lampre 5h46:29.

22. Milram 6h00:46.

Best young riders (stage):

1. Mark Cavendish (GBR/THR) 4h37:09.

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) at 0:00.

3. J?rgen Roelandts (BEL/OLO) 0:00.

4. Jos? Joaquin Rojas (ESP/GCE) 0:00.

5. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 0:00.

Best young riders (overall):

1. Andy Schleck (LUX/SAX) 88h09:56.

2. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) at 6:33.

3. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/LIQ) 10:04.

4. Julien El Far?s (FRA/COF) 48:48.

5. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 1h21:28.

6. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/SAX) 1h38:59.

7. Rafael Valls (ESP/FOT) 1h41:23.

8. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 1h43:27.

9. Joaquin Rojas (ESP/GCE) 2h00:17.

10. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 2h02:02.