Mark Cavendish's and Etixx Quick Step's manager Patrick Lefevere was delighted after his team's third stage victory on this Tour and in spite of Tony Martin's withdrawal with the yellow jersey on after his crash in Le Havre.

"Last night it was a mixture of happiness and pain. Today, it's only happiness. It's in no way a revenge. Only the media talked about revenge. Mark never had a revenge to take. He was always there. And we always knew we would be around him to support him until Paris," he said.

And the Belgian manager added that this record 26th victory by the Mannish sprinter on the Tour, the first in two years, was also way to react to criticism after the Zealand finish, when Cavendish stopped his effort, handing Fabian Cancellara the yellow jersey by one second at the expense of Martin.   

"For Mark, it's also a relief because he had been crossed by what happened in Zealand and the criticism he received," he said.