National Sports

BRIGNOLES, France (AP) ― Britain's Mark Cavendish won Sunday's second stage of the Tour de France under a searing sun, as Lance Armstrong finished safely in the trailing pack behind a sprint.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland retained the race leader's yellow jersey after the 187-kilometer (116.2-mile) trek from Monaco to Brignoles, France, and joked about the hot conditions.

"The heat was like you were baking bread ... it was terrible," Cancellara said on French TV. He recounted how with about an hour left of riding, his team manager said the temperature hit 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). "I haven't seen heat like that in years."

Cavendish clenched his fists and smiled as he crossed the line a split second in front of U.S. rider Tyler Farrar in second and Romain Feillu of France in third. It was the Briton's fifth Tour stage win.

With a solid escort from his Columbia team, Cavendish almost made it look easy.

"I'm glad I could win to just pay them back," he said after clocking 4 hours, 30 minutes, 2 seconds for the course — the same time as all but two of the riders. "It's emotional for me."

Cavendish took the green jersey awarded to the Tour's best sprinter. This is his third Tour, but he has never finished, and he said his goal was to win a stage and complete the three-week race.

The 24-year-old native of Isle of Man won three stages in the Giro d'Italia in May, and is proving to be among the world's leading sprint specialists.

Armstrong, pre-race favorite Alberto Contador and other possible title contenders were expected to ride cautiously and to avoid crashes in a nervous peloton.

Asked about how the stage went, seven-time Tour champion Armstrong said simply: "Hot" before a long pause.

"It's hard to hydrate. But you know, it's hot for everybody," he told reporters outside his team bus. Armstrong finished 80th in the stage.

The stage featured four minor climbs along sun-baked hills of Provence, next to the Mediterranean. The layout favored sprinters and breakaway specialists.

Cancellara won Saturday's opening time trial to take the yellow jersey and he leads Contador, who is second, by 18 seconds. Bradley Wiggins is third, 19 seconds back, and Armstrong is 10th overall, 40 seconds back.

The 37-year-old Texan, on his comeback Tour four years after retiring, said his strategy Sunday was "just avoid trouble and get in the rhythm of the race."

Armstrong didn't speak to reporters as he left the team bus before Sunday's stage, but wrote on his Twitter account that he expected "the bunch will be antsy and aggressive" and predicted the stage would be won by Cavendish.

Nerves indeed bared with three minor mid-race crashes, one involving Saxo Bank team rider Frank Schleck of Luxembourg — one of the Tour's biggest names, and a possible title contender.

The last one occurred at a fork in the route within the final kilometer.

"With the heat like that, sometimes there's a lack of concentration among the riders," Cancellara said.

During the ride, water bottles sailed out of the pack like corn kernels popping, as riders refreshed themselves along the route that featured medieval sites like a Cistercian abbey.

Riders will face a similar trek for Monday's third stage, a 196.5-kilometer (122.1-mile) course from the Mediterranean port city of Marseille to La Grande Motte. The forecast is for hot weather.

The Tour ends July 26 in Paris.

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