Mark Cavendish has won his fourth stage in this year's Tour de France. It is his second stage victory in two days and demonstrates once again that he is the fastest sprinter in world cycling.

The 23-year-old emerged to the left of Robbie McEwen, the veteran sprinter, to become only the second British rider to win back-to-back stages in a Grand Tour following his success in stage 13 from Narbonne to Nimes.

Cavendish is also the first Briton to win this many stages of the Tour. Only the achievements of Barry Hoban, who took double stage wins in the 1969 and 1973 Tours, compare to the Isle of Man rider's success.

The quick run-in to Nimes was perfect for the sprinters, and the old guard of Erik Zabel, Thor Hushovd and McEwen once again had no answer to Cavendish's speed in the final 100 metres.

Cadel Evans retained the yellow jersey by finishing in the main pack at the end of the 182km 13th stage from Narbonne to Nimes. The 31-year-old Australian has a one-second lead over Frank Schleck of Luxembourg and is 38 seconds ahead of U.S. rider Christian Vande Velde in third.

Earlier today, the Saunier Duval team fired Riccardo Ricco, their Italian rider and winner of the sixth and ninth stages. He was removed from the race Thursday after testing positive for an advanced version of banned blood booster EPO. Ricco was the third rider to test positive for EPO with the race reeling from a string of doping scandals.