Mark Cavendish of Great Britain and Team Colombia celebrates

Cavendish beat Oscar Freire of Spain and veteran German sprinter Erik Zabel on the line at the end of the 232-kilometre flat stage from Cholet to Chateauroux.

Three Frenchmen; Lilian Jegou, Nicolas Vogondy and Florent Brard, hit the front after 11 kilometres and at one point had a lead of more than 8 minutes.

However, the field never seemed concerned, and the riders worked together to catch the breakaway almost on the finish line.

"It's the biggest thing that's happened to me,'' the 23-year-old Cavendish said.

"To win a stage of the Tour is a massive thing. I came here with the intention of winning one. It just means so, so much to me.''

Cavendish had been disappointed that Monday's third stage was won by a breakaway, giving no opportunity for the sprinters to fight out the victory.

Cavendish, who comes from the Isle of Man, was selected by British Cycling on Tuesday to ride the madison on the track at the Beijing Olympics along with Bradley Wiggins.

The pair won the world championships in the event in March.

He is not slated to compete in the road races, however.

Schumacher held on to his 12-second overall lead from Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg and David Millar of Britain.

Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde, who is among the overall Tour contenders, hit debris in the road about 80 kilometres into the stage and went over his handlebars.

He injured his right arm, right knee and calf, but got back on his bike and continued riding.

French cyclist Aurelien Passeron hit a female spectator about five kilometres from the end of the race.

Passeron got back on his bike and continued, but finished well back in the field.

Soler withdraws

Colombian rider Juan Mauricio Soler, who has ridden with injured wrists since crashing in Saturday's first stage, pulled out of the race early into the stage.

He was the King of the Mountains champion as the Tour's best climber last year.

His Barloworld team said a scan had confirmed a fracture in the right hand of Soler, who felt so much pain when he held his handlebars that he was in danger of crashing.

"In agreement with Mauricio, we decided to wait two days after the crash to see if things improved, but we've had to accept that it is impossible for Soler to carry on in the Tour de France,'' team manager Claudio Corti said.

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