Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step) held his nerve in a tight finale to claim his 26th stage win at the Tour de France in the absence of injured teammate and dethroned yellow-jersey holder Tony Martin.
Martin was ruled out of the Tour on Thursday followed a crash that saw him fracture his collarbone at a time when he was the overall leader.
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With all riders grouped together going into the final kilometers of Friday's stage from Livarot to Fougeres, Cavendish did enough to finish clear of green-jersey holder Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Sagan remains in the top two of the general classification ahead of Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and behind new leader Chris Froome (Team Sky), who opted not to wear the yellow jersey during Friday's stage as a mark of respect to Martin after profiting from the German's injury setback.