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Team Columbia, the new name on the block, continue to make waves at the Tour de France, boosted by Mark Cavendish's second stage win of the week.

The squad lost their sponsor at the end of last season when Deutsche Telekom withdrew after doping scandals hit the sport.

But American Bob Stapleton hung on with his own cycling company, High Road, before finding sportswear firm Columbia as a sponsor and Team Columbia was born just before the Tour started.

The US-based team entered the three-week race with the ambition of winning stages and found themselves on Saturday celebrating not only Cavendish but also Kim Kirchen's second day in the overall leader's yellow jersey (pictured).

They also lie second in the team standings behind CSC and have the white jersey for the best young rider, courtesy of Swede Thomas Lovkvist's 10th overall place.

"Sometimes, when times are difficult, we fight more. We got our new sponsor only last week," sports director Allan Peiper said after Manxman Cavendish won a mass sprint at the end of Saturday's 172.5-km stage from Figeac to Toulouse.

Peiper, grateful to Stapleton for keeping up team morale in hard times, said: "He is the pivotal man in the team. He listens to everyone, asks everyone to show respect to others, and he respects everyone.

"He built an incredible team. He always has new ideas, he takes care of the guys and organises training camps to create a true team spirit."

Stapleton, however, believes the riders are to be thanked for their results.

"We are an international team that is a blend of talents," he said before the start of the eighth stage.

"A lot of riders are under 25, we're building the team on them. We have the youngest roster of the race and what strikes me is how they managed to stick together when the future of the team was uncertain. It gave them more strength."

Four riders from Team Columbia - Cavendish, Marcus Burghardt, Gerald Ciolek and Lovkvist - are under 25 but it has not prevented them from shining on the Tour so far, overshadowing the older generation.

Deutsche Telekom ended their sponsorship of Team T-Mobile last November, 16 years after starting in the sport.

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Reuters