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Britain's Mark Cavendish of the Columbia team won stage five of the Tour de France after an explosive sprint finish in Chateauroux. The Manxman beat fellow sprinters Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel in a mouth-watering finale after the longest stage in this year's race.

Following his double stage scalp in this year's Giro, the 23-year-old Briton can now add a Tour de France scalp to his rapidly expanding list of achievements.

Cavendish showed maturity beyond his years to beat experienced sprinters Freire, Zabel, Thor Hushovd and Baden Cooke to take the stage, the best win of his career so far.

"It's the biggest thing to have happened to me and it means so much," the world Madison champion said. "I'm only 23 and I came here to win a stage and that is what I have done."

Victory came after a tough start to the Tour saw Cavendish's opportunities of victory limited in the opening days.

On Monday's stage three, Cavendish and his fellow sprint rivals were caught out by a four-man breakaway which left them battling out for fifth place.

The two opening days of the race also featured uphill finishes, won by Alejandro Valverde and Hushovd, which were not suited to a pure sprinter in the Cavendish mould.

But Wednesday's pancake-flat 232km stage from Cholet to Chateauroux in the Loire offered "Cav" and his team-mates a chance to finally top the podium after three second-place finishes by Luxembourg all-rounder Kim Kirchen.

After an expert lead out by George Hincapie and Gerard Ciolek, Cavendish was the first of the big-name sprinters to launch an attack, sweeping up the only remaining escapee Nicolas Vogondy with 200m to spare and powering over the line to win by a length over Rabobank's Freire and Zabel of Milram.

"Obviously the other day (after stage three) we were really disappointed," Cavendish said. "We knew what we had to do and that's why the time gap came down so quickly.

"I had an excellent lead out by Gerard (Ciolek) and decided to go early because I saw Thor (Hushovd) being lead out by (Simon) Gerrans on the right."

Credit Agricole's Hushovd took fourth position, while Australian Baden Cooke, riding for Francaise de Jeux, took fifth. Davitaon-Lotto's Robbie McEwen, also of Australia, could only muster ninth place.

French champion Vogondy of Agributel - alongside compatriots Lilian Jégou (FDJ) and Florent Brard (Cofidis) - had broken clear of the peloton shortly after the stage's start.

Under the bright sun, the French trio built up a lead of 8'15" at one point before being caught in the final kilometre, Vogondy coming painfully close to glory after a last-gasp solo drive to the line.

Thursday's stage six sees the riders hit the mountains of the Massif Central, concluding with a summit-top finish in the ski resort of Super Besse.

Cavendish's compatriot David Millar is expected to attack in a bid to take the yellow jersey after a strong performance in Tuesday's time trial.

The Scot is currently in third position in the overall standings, 12 seconds behind leader Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner, the surprise winner of the 29.5km race against the clock.

Spaniard Valverde, of Caisse d'Epargne, survived an early scare after crashing twice in quick succession at the beginning of Wednesday's stage, which was marked by the abandonment of reigning polka dot jersey Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) with a broken wrist

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Felix Lowe / Eurosport