However, despite his domination in the sprints, he could not win the sprinters' points title, which was taken by Norwegian Thor Hushovd, who won only one stage but ran a clever race.

Italian Franco Pellizotti won the Tour's King of the Mountains title.

Cavendish's Team Columbia mate Mark Renshaw finished second, with American Tyler Farrar coming in third.

The winner's time was 4 hours 2 minutes 18 seconds, an average speed of 40.61 kph.