Mark Cavendish lifted some of the gloom surrounding the Tour de France by becoming the first Briton to secure a hat-trick of stage victories in the Tour de France.

Unlike his second victory, Cavendish had to complete the final sprint from Lavelanet to Narbonne without the help of a team-mate, and he peeled out to the left to overhaul the Milram team with comparative ease.

His achievement surpasses that of another sprinter, Barry Hoban, who won two stages in both 1969 and 1973.

With three consecutive defeats of Thor Hushovd, Erik Zabel and Oscar Freire, the 23-year-old Cavendish can legitimately claim the title of fastest sprinter in the world, even with the absence of Tom Boonen through recreational drug use.

The stage win is reward for Cavendish's toil through the Pyrenees, which included a last-place finish and a collision with a football.

Cavendish rockets up the green jersey rankings to 121 points, still 41 behind Freire.

On a flat, transitional stage between the mountains, the battle for yellow took a back seat, so Cadel Evans retains the overall lead by one second from Frank Schleck.

For the second day in succession, the peloton departed amid the rancour of doping by one of its members.

This time it was Riccardo Ricco, the star rider of Saunier Duval-Scott, who many in cycling hoped would become one of the sport's great climbers.

Ricco's positive test for EPO, produced after the time-trial at Cholet on July 8, prompted Saunier Duval to withdraw voluntarily from the race, despite being given permission by the Amaury Sports Organisation to continue.

"This was the hardest of the three stage wins, without a doubt," Cavendish told Eurosport afterwards.

"Conditions were harsher than they were in the other two. It was really windy and there was lots of argy-bargy in the final sprint.

"But this time I managed to win by a bike length.

"I had a good lead-out by Gerald (Ciolek), but the final bit I had to do myself.

"After getting through the Pyrenees, I was desperate to win for my team, who have worked so hard for me so far."

Cavendish has shown a remarkable capacity to recover so far in this year's Tour, with his second-stage win at Toulouse coming after a day in the Massif Central, and this third win following two tough stages in the Pyrenees, with Cavendish still feeling the effects of his fall.

Even he would be stretching his reserves to take tomorrow's stage from Narbonne to Nimes, where a victory would remove another of Hoban's records as the only Briton to win back-to-back stages in the Tour de France.

The race for the polka dot jersey is devalued by the withdrawal of the two frontrunners, Ricco and Saunier Duval team-mate David de la Fuente.

With no climbs to speak of for the next two days, Sebastian Lang should hold onto the lead in the King of the Mountains until the tricky Alpine stage into Italy on Sunday.

Leading final positions after Stage 12 (Lavelanet - Narbonne, 168.5km): 1 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Team Columbia 3hrs 40mins 52secs, 2 Sebastien Chavanel (Fra) Francaise des Jeux at same time, 3 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step at same time, 4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram at same time, 5 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank at same time, 6 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas at same time, 7 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole at same time, 8 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone at same time, 9 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 at same time, 10 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner at same time, 11 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto at same time, 12 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel at same time, 13 Robert Hunter (Rsa) Barloworld at same time, 14 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 15 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre at same time, 16 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at same time, 17 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Columbia at same time, 18 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom at same time, 19 Robert Forster (Ger) Gerolsteiner at same time, 20 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto

Selected Others: 49 David Millar (Gbr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 3hrs 40mins 52secs

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