The Briton began the day looking for his 30^th stage victory at the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race.

Prior to the race beginning, there was a one minute silence to remember those killed in the Nice attacks two days ago, as the bunch were together for the first time due to yesterday’s stage being an individual time trial.

After several tough days in the saddle, the peloton were content to begin the stage at a slower tempo, with no major attack for the opening 25km.

Eventually France’s Jérémy Roy opted to go clear and was quickly joined by American Alex Howes, Switzerland’s Martin Elmiger and Italy’s Cesare Benedetti.

Despite their efforts, the quartet were reeled in by the peloton with just over 3km left of racing, as teams were keen to give their sprinters a victory ahead of several tough mountain stages.

Marcel Kittel’s Etixx-Quick team again took charge of the sprint train heading into the finish, but the German found himself once again overtaken by Cavendish in a sprint finish.

The Briton, who had never beaten Kittel in a head to head sprint before the start of the race, claimed victory in a time of 5hr, 43min and 49sec.

Kittel protested that Cavendish had deviated from his sprinting line in the closing stages, a view rejected by the race jury, as the German was beaten to the line by Norway’s Alexander Kristoff and green jersey holder Peter Sagan of Slovakia, the reigning world champion.

“I followed Kittel and made sure I stayed there,” Cavendish said afterwards.

“I saw Quick Step hit out early and knew Kittel would be left out in the front.

"He kicked off a bit but I was way past him - I think he was just frustrated."

The overall race situation remained unchanged as a result of the stage, with Briton’s Chris Froome remaining in the yellow jersey.

The Team Sky rider is 1:47 ahead of second place Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands, with Britain’s Adam Yates 2:45 down in third.

Colombia’s Nairo Quintana is fourth but 2:59 off Froome’s pace.

Tomorrow’s stage will see the peloton tackle a 160km mountain stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz.

Belgium's Tim Wellens triumphed from a breakaway on stage five of the Tour of Poland to claim the overall race lead.

Previous race leader Fernando Gaviria of Colombia was among 85 riders to abandon the race as heavy rain affected the peloton, leaving 100 riders left to contest the remainder of the Tour.