Britain's Mark Cavendish broke down in tears after winning the fifth stage of the Tour de France Thursday for his first victory in this year's race. The Briton, who won six stages last year and four in 2008, broke his duck in the 2010 edition on the hot and mostly flat 187.5-kilometer trek from Epernay to Montargis. The main contenders for the overall title cruised home afterward in the pack, which clocked 4 hours, 30 minutes, 50 seconds. The 25-year-old Cavendish thrust his arms skyward and hugged teammates in the winner's circle after beating Gerald Ciolek of Germany into second and Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen into third. Cavendish had faded in a sprint finish in Wednesday's stage won by Italy's Alessandro Petacchi, and bared his frustration by hurling his bike after the fourth stage. “It's incredible, it's been a long time,” said Cavendish of his stage win. “Yesterday wasn't that great for us. I let the guys down.” Fabian Cancellara retained the leader's yellow jersey, and the overall standings didn't change. Defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain was 19th in the stage, and seven-time tour winner Lance Armstrong 30th. Cavendish has developed a reputation among some as a “bad boy” of cycling. He was fined by international cycling's governing body, UCI, this spring for making a finger gesture that was deemed unsuitable after he won a sprint finish in a Tour de Romandie stage. Breaking down during a TV interview, after holding his face in his hands, HTC Columbia rider Cavendish admitted the “pressure was immense,” said he had “been through a helluva lot”, and denied that he had thrown his bike down a day earlier. “I just want to thank all the people who supported me,” he said. With Cavendish pausing to cry, Cancellara came up and put his arm around the Briton. “Sprints are never easy,” Cancellara said. “They're psychologically very hard.” Thor Hushovd of Norway, who wears the best sprinter's green jersey that Cavendish covets, and who has had tensions with him in the past, said: “Good to see him back today after all the problems he's had.” France's Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot, who was on hand for the stage, was beaming about Cavendish's display of emotion. “Only sport can give us scenarios like this,” she said. “The one who was called ‘the bad boy' for several days became not only the good boy but the absolutely superb boy.” Cavendish, for his part, said he's come down a notch. During the good days, the elation from his past successes meant “you kinda float on a cloud,” but that “there's people who just want to pull you off that cloud,” he said. “I learned a big lesson not to get on that cloud, and people pulled me - and I came crashing down to earth,” Cavendish said. “And you know, I came down really, really hard. “There's a lot of people who want to judge my personality on 30 seconds of what they see after a bike race. Somebody so ignorant to kinda dislike me, without knowing me, are not kinda worth worrying about what they think about me anyway.” The top standings didn't change Thursday. Among the top contenders behind Cancellara, Cadel Evans of Australia holds third place, 39 seconds back, and last year's runner-up, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, is sixth, 1:09 back. Contador is ninth, 1:40 back, and American rider Armstrong is 2:30 back in 18th. After crashing in Monday's Stage 2 and puncturing a tire and losing time in the third stage on Tuesday, Armstrong turned his attention to keeping out of trouble in frenzied finishes like Thursday's that play to sprinters' strengths. He was instead looking ahead to the first mountain stage Sunday.
