Gerrans wins agonising mountain battle

Race leader Cadel Evans finished several minutes later alongside several of his top rivals. But the famous yellow jersey is now the property of Frank Schleck.

Gerrans, of Credit Agricole, led a four-man group that broke away from the main pack early along the 183-kilometre (113.7-mile) trek from Embrun, France to Prato Nevoso.

Evans, also of Australia, had entered the stage holding a razor-thin one-second lead over Luxembourg's Schleck and was 38 seconds ahead of Christian Vande Velde of the United States in third.

After stage 14, Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton had admitted that Mark Cavendish would have to "seriously consider" pulling out before Sunday's Alpine opener.

Stapleton said: "He is clearly very tired. I think we have to seriously consider him stepping out. That's something we need to give full consideration to.

"It's important for us that he is part of that decision, so we'll talk with him when he feels better."

And so it turned out. Britain's record-breaker Cavendish decided to pull out of the remainder of the Tour, citing fatigue.

The 23-year-old had won four stages in this year's race, each time in a last-ditch sprint to the finish, becoming the first Briton in history to claim more than two victories in a single year.

As expected, he struggled during previous stages in the Pyrenees and, with the Tour starting its climb into the Alps on Sunday afternoon, he decided not to jeopardise his Olympic hopes next month by pushing himself through more misery in the mountains.

After victories on stages five, eight, 12 and 13, the racer from the Isle of Man was too tired to pull himself to the front of the peloton on Saturday and he finished over three minutes behind sprint winner Oscar Freire.

Cavendish will now have plenty of time to recover before his participation in the Madison event at the Beijing Games.