The leader's yellow jersey was claimed by Britain's Mark Cavendish in a time of two minutes 27.6 seconds, ahead of two Russian riders.

Mark Cavendish extended his overall lead in the Tour, winning the stage by coming home in a bunch sprint ahead of Belgian Steven Caethoven.

[6] Nikolai Trusov steered clear of a late crash to win the stage and take the yellow jersey from Mark Cavendish.

1) and Bridgnorth to join the Severn Valley at Bewdley, continuing towards the Ironbridge Gorge where the riders tackled the final King of the Mountains climb of the day at Coalport bank 26 km.

Britons Paul Manning, Ben Swift, Rob Partridge, Mark Cavendish and John Bellis all finished in the top 10.

[15] The stage was marred when the riders were forced to cease racing and ride behind a safety car after organisers failed to close the roads to traffic.

After demonstrating his climbing skills in the Pennines, Adrián Palomares took the stage on the line from Tom Stubbe and the yellow jersey from Nikolai Trusov.

A 26-man break had developed, with Luke Roberts briefly taking the outright lead, but Palomares hit the front after the race was neutralised.

He made a decisive break over the Cow and Calf climb and was able to hold off Stubbe and fellow Spaniard David Blanco in the sprint to the line.

After leaving Liverpool the stage headed along the coastline, passing the sand dunes and pine forests at Formby and on through Southport.