Sprint king Cavendish claims fourth Tour win

(CNN) -- British sprint sensation Mark Cavendish claimed his fourth stage victory at the drug-tainted Tour de France on Friday as he snatched the 13th leg from Narbonne to Nimes.

Cavendish became only the second British cyclist to win back-to-back stages in the prestigious event as he sneaked past veteran Australian Robbie McEwen in the 182-kilometer (113.1-mile) trek, clocking four hours, 25 minutes, 42 seconds.

He is only the second sprinter in the last 10 years to win four stages in the same Tour de France, the other being Alessandro Petacchi in 2003.

McEwen's compatriot Cadel Evans retained the overall lead after finishing alongside his closest rivals in the main peloton. He holds a one-second lead over Frank Schleck of Luxembourg and is 38 seconds ahead of U.S. rider Christian Vande Velde in third.

Cavendish's victory came after the Saunier Duval team fired Italian rider Riccardo Ricco, winner of the sixth and ninth stages, and his compatriot Leonardo Piepoli.

Ricco was removed from the race Thursday after testing positive for an advanced version of banned blood booster EPO. Piepoli did not test positive, but the team said he breached its code of ethics.

Despite his heroics, Cavendish lies well off the pace in the overall standings. The Columbia team rider was left 144th out of 158 competitors -- one hour and 52 minutes behind Evans.

The 23-year-old told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I only planned to do 10 days of the Giro de Paris but finished it and now I'm 13 days into the Tour not feeling too tired - I'll take every day as it comes and see how far I can get."

However, Cavendish -- who comes from the Isle of Man -- was unsure if he would will stay in the Tour through the Alps in order to challenge for a fifth win on the Champs-Elysees, or whether he would withdraw to prepare for the Beijing Olympics.

He still trails green jersey points leader Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team by 28 points, lying second equal with Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd.

"It was a real battle out there, but somehow I'm still no closer to the green jersey," Cavendish added on Eurosport. "I don't know what I have to do!

"It just proves that you have to be ultra-consistent to win the points competition. I was tired, but ever since I was 13 I've shown that if there's a win up for grabs, I forget everything and motor.

"Again the lead-out was perfect, the real hard work was done for me. The conditions were supposed to be kind, but when we reached Nimes there was a real block headwind. It didn't feel like my most comfortable win."

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