NIMES, France: Britain’s Mark Cavendish claimed his fourth victory on the Tour de France here on Friday after dominating another bunch sprint at the end of the 182.5km 13th stage from Narbonne to Nimes.

Australian Cadel Evans retained the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Saturday’s 14th stage from here to Dignes-les-Bains at the foot of the Alps. Only 24 hours after his record-setting victory on stage 12, Cavendish reinforced his reputation as the race’s fastest sprinter after outgunning Evans’ Silence-Lotto teammate Robbie McEwen.

McEwen finished second, with Frenchman Roman Feillu, of the Agritubel team, claiming third place ahead of German Heinrich Haussler and Spaniard Oscar Freire. “I had to give it a final push and give it full gas again at the end because when I did the initial kick I didn’t realise there was a headwind at the finish,” said Cavendish.

Cavendish’s fourth win on the race means he has now equalled the impressive feats of respected sprinters Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi, both of whom won four wins from single editions, in 1999 and 2003 respectively.

To put his success into perspective, Cavendish already has a quarter of the 12 stages won by McEwen. The 23-year-old Manxman also raised the bar a notch higher for British riders on the race, having beaten Barry Hoban’s all-time record of two stage wins in a single edition by winning Thursday’s 12th stage.

Cavendish fought back his frustration on Thursday when asked his feelings about the doping scandals that have rocked the Tour. After his latest win, he quickly declared that all he was interested in discussing was his and his Columbia team’s achievements.

“We all work so well and so selflessly, and that shows in our results. I love these guys like my brothers,” said Cavendish, who added that each of his stage wins was different. “For sure my favourite one is the first one, the team held it so well together for me. Yesterday I was able to go so far from the finish.

“Today was the hardest one, I sprinted in my normal fashion and jumped off the train and went for the line. “But at the end of the day, a win’s a win. I’ve done my job for the day.” McEwen had so far had few chances to unleash his trademark sprint for the line, but once he did the 34-year-old came up against a rider he has described as “just too strong”.

“I did two sprints, the first one was 500 metres with my nose in the wind to try and get a good position, then a second one just before the line. But Cavendish is simply too strong and too fast,” said McEwen.