Things got pretty heated on the route du Tour yesterday, so heated that Mark Cavendish survived fisticuffs at 50 miles an hour before speeding to another irrepressible stage victory.

It was a win that also earned the Briton the leadership in the Tour de France’s points classification for the first time in his career, although the 24-year-old quickly played down his hopes of taking the green jersey all the way to the Tour’s finish in Paris.

“Wearing the green jersey is a beautiful moment,” he said. “But I don’t want to fight for it for ten stages and then miss the time limit one day. I don’t think it’s wise to go for it right from the start, so now I’ve won one stage I want to get to Paris, see if I can win some more [on the way] and maybe take a win on the Champs Élysées.”

Cavendish’s success, his first in this year’s race and the fifth of his career, brought to a climax a boiling afternoon in the Var, in which tempers frayed moments before the Briton yet again backed up his claim to be the fastest sprinter in road racing. “In the last kilometre, I was led out perfectly by my team,” Cavendish said. “Before that, it was a bit physical, but it’s the Tour de France — there’s a lot at stake.”

So much so that Cavendish accused Kenny van Hummel, of the Netherlands, of striking him. “He took his hands off the bars and hit me,” Cavendish said. “I’ll have to speak to him.” In fact, Piet Rooijakkers, another Dutchman, subsequently admitted having hit Cavendish twice during the mêlée.

That altercation apart, Cavendish can thank his own instincts and the near-perfect support work of his Team Columbia team-mates for avoiding the final-kilometre mix-up that left one group of riders sprawled on the tarmac and a clutch of others following the deviation for official vehicles and speeding towards the press room.

Today’s 196-kilometre third stage, from Marseilles to La Grande-Motte, is pan flat in the closing stages, offering another opportunity for Cavendish to prove his point.