24 hours ago Mark Cavendish appeared like he was his unbeatable self at the Tour de France as he clocked up his first win in this year's race. Today the Manxman got a reminder that there are other strong sprinters in the race as he had to settle for fourth behind winner Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) in today's sixth stage. Afterwards, Cavendish acknowledged that he had been beaten by a strong rider.

After yesterday's win, Omega Pharma-Quick Step had clear ambitions of making the double with their sprinter Mark Cavendish in today's sixth stage of the Tour de France and the squad made its intentions clear immediately. Reeling the day's lone escapee Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) in very early, the team was a constant presence near the front of the peloton on the windy day.

However, it all came to nothing as Cavendish had to settle for 4th in the sprint. After yesterday's textbook lead-out, the team messed it up this time and Gert Steegmans had to make a long sprint to put his captain back into position. When he opened his sprint, it was, however, clear that he was no match to winner Andre Greipel.

With 35km to go, the Brit hat hit the deck and he used up a lot of energy to get back on. Nonetheless, he refused to use his chase as an excuse, instead acknowledging Greipel's strength and looking forward to future battles.

"I think there were a lot of factors — for sure the crash didn't help," he said. "It took a lot of energy to get back. I can't say for sure though, you know, Andre was really strong today and he deserved the win. I'm disappointed, but you know we won the stage yesterday, and the morale is still good. We rode strong all day in difficult conditions, so it's OK. We've got another two weeks left."

Cavendish could get another opportunity in tomorrow's stage to Albi but first he has to survive the numerous climbs on the lumpy route. Starting at 14.00, you can follow the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.