MARCUS BURGHARDT — best remembered for being knocked off his bike by a dog in last year’s event — profited from a transitional day in the Tour de France to escape to victory on the 18th stage from Bourg d’Oisans to St Etienne.

Mark Cavendish became the first Briton to win a stage of the Tour de France for five years with a brilliant sprint shoot-out on the fifth stage from Cholet to Chateauroux.