World champion Mark Cavendish led the peloton at the intermediate sprint on the fourth stage of the Tour de France on a day when he sought to add to his formidable haul of stage wins.
Cavendish (Team Sky) was seeking to draw level with Lance Armstrong and Andre Darrigade by claiming a 22nd Tour stage win of his career, but was also hoping to accumulate points in the race for the green jersey he won in 2011.
The 214.5-kilometres route from Abbeville to Rouen ran along the coast of northern France, but mild conditions meant the wind had little impact.
Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) comprised the day's three-man breakaway, which began in the opening kilometre.
Japan's Arashiro led the trio over the intermediate line in Fecamp with 74.5km of the stage remaining.
The peloton followed six minutes later, with Cavendish leading the sprint over the line.
Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and maillot vert Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) followed.
The result saw Cavendish move into second place in the points classification standings behind Sagan, the winner of stages one and three, who took nine points.
The Manxman now has 86 points, with Slovakian Sagan on 125.