GUEUGNON, France — Mark Cavendish screamed in exultation Friday, outsprinting game American Tyler Farrar over the line and winning the hot, windy Stage 6 at the Tour de France.

Cavendish, of the Columbia-HTC team, finished the longest mileage day of racing in 5 hours, 37 minutes, 42 seconds, nosing his bike ahead of Farrar, who rides for Garmin-Transitions and is racing despite a broken bone in his wrist.

The 141.3-mile route began in Montargis and was a draining day with temperatures on the road approaching 100 degrees.

In the last mile or so, it was clear Columbia-HTC and Garmin-Transitions were setting up Cavendish and Farrar, but Cavendish had just enough oomph at the end for his second consecutive stage victory. .

The overall leaders remained unchanged, with Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara of Saxo Bank still wearing the yellow jersey and Lance Armstrong of RadioShack in 18th place, 2:30 behind Cancellara.

There were thunderstorms on the route in the morning, and Armstrong noted that it made for an especially steamy day.

"It got to be really warm," he said, "and when the clouds burned off, it left humidity from the storm. Guys suffered."

Among the other favorites, Australian Cadel Evans of BMC Racing is third, 39 seconds behind Cancellara; 2009 runner-up Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank is sixth, 1:09 behind; and defending champion Alberto Contador of the Astana team is ninth, 1:40 behind.

"(Thursday) was really emotional," Cavendish said. "Today I'm really happy."

Armstrong teammate Levi Leipheimer assessed the first six stages as hard racing.

"This whole first week has been stressful," Leipheimer said. "The speeds have been high, the skills of the riders are improving all the time, nobody gives an inch, every inch of asphalt is taken."

dpucin@tribune.com