Mark Cavendish broke down in tears Thursday after winning the fifth stage of the Tour de France for his first victory in this year's race.

The British sprint star, who won six stages last year and four in 2008, took top honours in a hot, mostly flat 187.5-kilometre trek from Epernay to Montargis.

The main contenders for the overall title cruised home afterward in the pack, which clocked four hours 30 minutes 50 seconds.

The 25-year-old Cavendish thrust his arms skyward and hugged teammates in the winner's circle after beating Gerald Ciolek of Germany into second and Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen into third. Cavendish had faded in a sprint finish in Wednesday's stage won by Italy's Alessandro Petacchi, and bared his frustration by hurling his bike after the fourth stage.

“It's incredible, it's been a long time,” said Cavendish of his stage win. “Yesterday wasn't that great for us. I let the guys down.” Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara retained the leader's yellow jersey, and the overall standings didn't change. Defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain was 19th in the stage, and seven-time tour winner Lance Armstrong 30th.

Victoria's Ryder Hesjedal, part of the Garmin-Transitions team, remained fourth overall after a 90th-place stage finish that saw him get the same time as the lead group.

“Smokin hot out there today!” tweeted Hesjedal, citing temperatures of 42.2 C.

Toronto's Michael Barry, riding for Team Sky, finished 56th to stand 61st overall.

Norwegian Thor Hushovd finished fifth Thursday to lead the Canadian-owned Cervelo team.

Cavendish has developed a reputation among some as a “bad boy” of cycling. He was fined by international cycling's governing body, UCI, this spring for making an obscene gesture after he won a sprint finish in a Tour de Romandie stage.

Breaking down during a TV interview, after holding his face in his hands, HTC Columbia rider Cavendish admitted the “pressure was immense,” said he had “been through a hell of a lot,” and denied that he had thrown his bike down a day earlier.

“I just want to thank all the people who supported me,” he said.

With Cavendish pausing to cry, Cancellara came up and put his arm around the Briton. “Sprints are never easy,” Cancellara said. “They're psychologically very hard. Today, we saw a nice thing: After all the buzz around him — the young sprinter, the big mouth and all that — ... he's a real sprinter.”

Hushovd, who wears the best sprinter's green jersey that Cavendish covets, and who has had tensions with him in the past, said: “Good to see him back today after all the problems he's had.”

French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot, who was on hand for the stage, was beaming about Cavendish's display of emotion.

“Only sport can give us scenarios like this,” she said. “The one who was called ‘the bad boy' for several days became not only the good boy but the absolutely superb boy.

“The tears of Cavendish on the podium, I'm going to remember that. It was really hot weather-wise, but that also warms my heart.”

Cavendish, for his part, said he's come down a notch.

During the good days, the elation from his past successes meant “you kind of float on a cloud,” but that “there's people who just want to pull you off that cloud,” he said.

“I learned a big lesson not to get on that cloud, and people pulled me — and I came crashing down to earth. And you know, I came down really, really hard.

“There's a lot of people who want to judge my personality on 30 seconds of what they see after a bike race. Somebody so ignorant to kinda dislike me, without knowing me, are not kinda worth worrying about what they think about me anyway.”

The top standings didn't change Thursday.

Among the top contenders behind Cancellara, Cadel Evans of Australia holds third place, 39 seconds back, and last year's runner-up, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, is sixth, 1:09 back. Contador is ninth, 1:40 back, and American rider Armstrong is 2:30 back in 18th.

After crashing in Monday's Stage 2 and puncturing a tire and losing time in the third stage on Tuesday, Armstrong turned his attention to keeping out of trouble in frenzied finishes like Thursday's that play to sprinters' strengths.

He was instead looking ahead to the first mountain stage on Sunday.

“I don't know how selective the Alps will be,” the seven-time Tour champion said, referring to a possible shakeout among contenders on the climbs. “Those big group sprint finishes — I'm looking forward to getting (them) behind me.

“It was definitely a stressful first four or five days, unlike anything I think we've seen, and I think even people who have been at this event for 40 years would agree. This is an extremely volatile, dangerous first week. It's just time to move on.” Riders embark on the longest stage of this year's Tour for Friday's Stage 6, a 227.5-kilometre effort from Montargis to Gueugnon. The forecast is for humidity and temperatures of up to 35 degrees C.