Mark Cavendish won his third stage on the 2009 Tour de France on Tuesday, a 194.5km trek ridden at a leisurely pace in an implicit protest by the riders at a radio-ban by organisers. It was the seventh stage won on the Tour by the Briton, who is now one victory short of the British record held by Barry Hoban since 1975.

Perfectly led by Columbia team mate Mark Renshaw in the final stretch, Cavendish was too strong for green jersey holder Thor Hushovd of Norway, who came home second on the 10th stage in front of American Tyler Farrar. The peloton, who rode at a relatively slow average speed of 40.7 kph, caught a four-man breakaway in the last two kilometres. Italy’s Rinaldo Nocentini retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

After several meetings on the rest day in Limoges, teams had reluctantly accepted to start the stage without earpieces or equipment allowing riders to communicate with their team cars. Lance Armstrong also said he thought it better to have them (earpieces) but had decided against a strike. “I’m against a strike. Teams don’t like it, sponsors don’t like it,” the American said.

Armstrong predicted that the 13th stage to Colmar, also scheduled to take place without any communication device, would see the UCI back down on their position: “My prediction is we’ll have earpieces on Friday,” he said. However, International Cycling Union (UCI) head commissioner Martin Bruin said there was no plan to overturn the decision.