Mark Cavendish collected his fifth Tour de France stage victory of the year with a stirring late sprint at the end of Friday's 19th stage. Alessandro Ballan and Laurent Lefevre took the lead with about 15 miles to go but the peloton was never more than a few seconds behind.

CARCASSONNE, France (Reuters) - Yaroslav Popovych of Ukraine won the 211.5 km 12th stage of the Tour de France from Luchon to Carcassonne on Friday. The Discovery Channel rider crossed the line 26 seconds ahead of Italian Alessandro Ballan.

By Stephen Farrand ROME (Reuters) - Aged just 21, Thomas Dekker became the third Dutchman to win the Tirreno-Adriatico race on Tuesday.