Germany's Greipel wins 4th stage at Tour de France

ROUEN, France -- With British rival Mark Cavendish downed by a late crash, Germany's Andre Greipel led a final dash among the remaining top Tour de France sprinters to win the fourth stage into Normandy yesterday.

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara avoided the trouble and retained the overall lead for a fifth day after the 133-mile trek alongside the English Channel from Abbeville to Rouen.

The top standings didn't change: The Swiss leads second-place Bradley Wiggins, who hopes to be Britain's first Tour winner, by seven seconds. Defending champion Cadel Evans of Australia was 17 seconds off the pace in seventh.

With less than two miles left, Cavendish went down in a crash, scraping up his rainbow-colored jersey of world champion. He got back on his bicycle and rode gingerly to finish the stage. His Team Sky said he was banged up, but appeared to have no serious injuries.

With Cavendish out, Greipel burst out of the depleted group of sprinters, and sped to the finish, a split-second ahead of Italy's Alessandro Petacchi and Dutch rider Tom Veelers.

"This is what we wanted. It's a good victory," said Greipel after his 14th victory in all competitions this year. Despite the crash, Greipel said his victory was well-deserved. "There were still really fast guys there for the sprint and I think we just deserve this victory."

Today's fifth stage promises another bunch sprint, after a mostly flat 122-mile course from Rouen to Saint-Quentin north of Paris. -- AP