Result: Mark Cavendish won a bunch sprint ahead of Alessandro Petacchi and André Greipel. But it was a mixed day for the Brits as Bradley Wiggins abandoned the race.

Here’s how it happened: Again it was the standard, breakaway-pursuit-bunch sprint combo. The peloton never let today’s four escapees get a gap of more than eight minutes and they were caught with 13km to go.

The HTC-High Road team of Mark Cavendish and the Garmin-Cervelo team of race leader Thor Hushvod co-operated to ensure that a bunch sprint was today’s outcome.

The Tour organisers have attempted to scupper the sprinters somewhat in this year’s Tour by placing short draggy climbs just before the finishing line on most stages. But today’s stage saw a return to more traditional sprint-fest terrain. Cavendish won his first ever Tour stage here back in 2008 and he made certain that the result was no different today.

The Big Winners: The HTC-High Road sprint train. They’ve been a bit all over the place so far this Tour. Even for the stage that Cavendish won a couple of days ago, he did so without the aid of an organised leadout from his team.

But they got things spot on today as they flawlessly delivered the Manxman to the 17th Tour de France stage win of his career.

The Big Loser: Without a doubt, Bradley Wiggins. With 36km to go there was a big crash in the bunch with dozens of riders getting caught up in it. Most seemed to escape unscathed but Wiggins stayed on the ground. He didn’t get back on his bike and it has transpired that he has broken his collarbone.

This will be devastating for Team Sky who had their first ever Tour stage victory yesterday but are now leaderless as the race heads towards the mountains.

Former World Champion Tom Boonen also abandoned the race due to injuries sustained after a crash in yesterday’s stage.

What about the Irish?
Another uneventful day for Nicolas Roche as he rolled home safely in the peloton once more, avoiding the big crash which ruined the Tour for Wiggins. As a result of that crash, there was also a massive split in the bunch, but Roche made it into the front group along with the other G.C. contenders.

He finished the stage in 15th place and remains 1’12″ seconds behind Thor Hushovd overall. His first major test in his quest for a top 10 place overall comes tomorrow.

So what happens tomorrow then?
The Tour finally reaches mountaineous terrain. The race usually takes in the two major mountain ranges in France, the Alps and the Pyrenées and this year is no different. But as an added bonus, the route also includes the hills of the Massif Central, which is where Stage Eight brings the riders.

While it’s not on a par with some of the monster mountain stages in the final week, tomorrow will be a tester for the major overall contenders. Nobody will want to needlessly lose time to their rivals so we should see all the big names come to the fore on the 7km final climb up to Super-Besse.

And don’t forget, thanks to his mishap on Stage One, Contador has given most of his rivals a minute and a half head start coming into the mountains. He’ll want to claw back that time as soon as possible.

Thor Hushovd surprised everybody by keeping the yellow jersey after the tough finish to Stage Four. But he will certainly not be holding on to the jersey any longer. Its most likely destination is on to the shoulders of Cadel Evans.

But also look out for Frank Schleck who is only three seconds behind Evans overall. If he were to find himself in yellow, it would make the dynamic between himself and his brother Andy very interesting.