Fourth Tour de France win for Cavendish

MONTPELLIER, France, July 17 (Reuters) - Mark Cavendish
delivered a textbook sprint in the finale of the 193-kms 15th
stage of the Tour de France in Montpellier on Sunday to snatch
his fourth victory in this year's race.     

Perfectly set up by his lead-out man Mark Renshaw, the
Briton surged with 200 metres to go before the finish line to
beat American Tyler Farrar and Italian Alessandro Petacchi.     

The win, his 19th overall in the Tour de France,
strengthened the Manxman's top spot in the race for the green
jersey.     

Already the most successful sprinter in the race history,
the Briton is now tied in seventh place in terms of stage
victories with 1909 Tour winner Francois Faber.     

"My name is on the list but it is for the (HTC Highroad)
team. I don't think    there's a sprinter with more wins on the
Tour and it shows the commitment these guys have towards me. I'm
incredibly lucky for that," he said.     

"I struggled a lot in the mountains and for them I wanted it
to be worth it. It was technically difficult, lots of winds,
lots of attacks but we stayed disciplined." 

The Manxman finished the previous stage in Plateau de Beille
just inside the time cut but had kept enough strength to beat
his rivals as well as the strong winds sweeping the course all
day.     

"What gets you through the mountains is the smell of a
success like today's," he said.     

"You're tired but it's not going to affect the edge of your
sprint."     

His rivals for the green jersey tried to spoil the HTC
Highroad show towards the end and Belgian champion Philippe
Gilbert moved three kms from the line hoping to avoid a bunch
sprint but the Briton's guard reined him in.     


VOECKLER DISMISSES CHANCES     

In the points classification, Cavendish now leads Spaniard
Jose Joaquin Rojas by 37 points and Gilbert by 71 before the
second rest day.     

"You can never take anything for granted. I will try to keep
getting points and see what happens," said the Manxman, narrowly
beaten for the green jersey in the last two years.     

The overall leader's yellow jersey remained on the back of
Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, who ordered his Europcar team mates
to relax and let the sprinters' teams lead the way all day.     

"I was not feeling too good today. I had the rest day on my
mind, like many of us," he said.     

Voeckler leads Luxembourg's Frank Schleck by one minute and
49 seconds with Australian Cadel Evans third 2:06 behind.     

Yet, with only six stages left in the Tour, the Frenchman
keeps shrugging off suggestions that he can win the Tour. 

"To be honest, I don't believe in it for a     
second," he said.     

The long ride along windy roads from Limoux included a long
breakaway involving    Dutchman Niki Terpstra, Russian Mikhail
Ignatyev and Frenchmen Samuel Dumoulin, Mickael Delage and
Anthony Delaplace.     

The last of the escapees, Terpstra, was caught two
kilometres from the line.