Mark Cavendish claimed his fourth stage win of the 2016 Tour de France and 30th of his career with victory in the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes.
Cavendish came around the wheel of Marcel Kittel in the final straight and took victory ahead of Norwegian Alexander Kristoff and world champion Peter Sagan in third.
Cavendish enjoyed his best ever first week of a Tour de France with victories on stages one, four and six, and the Dimension Data rider proved he still has strong form after coming through the first mountain tests.
Last week Cavendish moved past Bernard Hinault in second in the all-time list of Tour stage winners and this latest success leaves him four behind the record of five-time Tour winner Eddy Merckx.
There has been speculation throughout the Tour that the Manxman would at some point withdraw to focus on preparations for racing on the track at the Rio Olympics, but with his form so strong he will also have an eye on a fifth career victory on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Kittel, having made his move first, ended up fifth and behind fellow German John Degenkolb.
Team Sky's Chris Froome finished safely in the pack to retain the yellow jersey.
Ireland’s Dan Martin and Sam Bennett also finished in the pack to retain their overall positions. Bennett was 12th on the stage.
As France began three days of national mourning, there was a minute's silence prior to the start of the stage in Montelimar to honour the victims of Thursday's terrorist attack in Nice.
The start time had been brought forward due to the strong headwinds blowing from the north and when they did start moving, the pace was understandably slow along the 208.5km route.
It took time for the break to get away, but Jeremy Roy (FDJ), Alex Howes (Cannondale), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18) and Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling) eventually got away.
They built a lead which maxed out at four and half minutes but though Roy and Elmiger fought hard to stay clear in the wind, they shook hands and were mopped up with three kilometres to go as the sprint trains took over.
