The 194.5km stage from Limoges to Issoudun saw four riders in Thierry Hupond, Benoït Vaugrenard, Samuel Dumoulin and Mikhail Ignatiev break away from the peleton.
They were up to four minutes clear but with race radios today being banned, the game of chess on wheels that is cycling saw all the major teams try and get their sprinters to the front.
The break was caught 1.6 kilometres from the finish thanks to some good work from Team Colombia and it was Cavendish who was led out to take the stage victory.
The win see Cavendish close to getting the green jersey back with Italian Rinaldo Nocentini keeping his yellow jersey.
Speaking to his team's website: "Mark Renshaw for me is the man of the day. "It was a technical finish, slightly uphill and very twisty, but Mark did a great job for me taking me through those last corners. Really all I had to do was finish off his work. It's an important victory for me. I wanted to prove today that I didn't come through the Pyrenees for nothing, and the team rode brilliantly for me again. They delivered me perfectly to the finish and I was able to deliver."
Cavendish rubbed his green sunglasses when crossing the line, a reference to his continuing battle for the points competition, which he led in the first week.
"It's a nice colour, maybe I'll get to wear more green before the end of the race again. I'll certainly try my best to get the green jersey back."
The winner of four stages last year, Cavendish calculates that "There are four more opportunities for bunch sprints, three more this week, and I'll keep on going for the wins. My big objective is to win on the Champs Elysées in Paris on the last day."