Mark Cavendish claimed his fourth stage win of the 2016 Tour de France and 30th of his career as rival Marcel Kittel was left fuming behind.

Cavendish's win on stage 14 to the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes was not confirmed until commissaires had reviewed the footage, but Kittel was angered by their decision to uphold the result.

Kittel believed Cavendish cut him off in the final metres, and the big German could be seen waving an arm in anger as the Manxman crossed the line ahead of Norwegian Alexander Kristoff of Katusha and Tinkoff's world champion Peter Sagan in third.

Cavendish said he had no idea there was a problem until he was waiting to speak to television reporters after the finish.

"Obviously I didn't see it because I was in front," the Dimension Data rider said. "The first I knew of it was when I was waiting to give the flash interview at the finish. It is a coming together but if you look we're next to the barriers and it's him coming off the barriers more than anything.

"I haven't spoken to him. He hit me on the back after but I thought he was saying 'well done'."

Kittel, who made his move first but ended up finishing fifth behind fellow German John Degenkolb, was unimpressed.

"I started my sprint, I was on the inside, really well positioned," the Etixx-QuickStep rider said. "Then just before the line, he moved to the right, touched my shoulder and I had to brake.

"If I say what I think is fair .... It wasn't fair, the decision of the jury wasn't correct. I'm pretty p*****. But I don't want to point the finger at Cavendish, he's a great champion."

The 208.5km stage from Montelimar had finished with a three kilometre straight directly into a headwind which broke up the sprint trains, and Cavendish bided his time as he lurked behind the big frame of Kittel.

After the German lit it up, Cavendish burst off his wheel - a move he believes was down to the work he has done on the track before the Rio Olympics.

"You refresh your racing nous on the track," he said. "You need to be patient and assess situations and I think that is the key thing. I'm a lot more patient than I was last year."

This is turning into a vintage July for Cavendish, who has more wins in this Tour than he did in the previous three combined.

Last week he moved past Bernard Hinault in second on the all-time list of Tour stage winners and he is now four behind the record of five-time Tour winner Eddy Merckx.

It was the sixth stage win for a British rider in this year's Tour as Cavendish's team-mate Steve Cummings won stage seven and Team Sky's Chris Froome - who finished safely in the pack to retain the yellow jersey - took stage eight.

There has been speculation throughout the Tour that Cavendish would at some point withdraw to focus on Rio, but with such strong form he will have an eye on a fifth career victory on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Cavendish also pointed to the chance to deliver victory for his South African-based team on Nelson Mandela day - as Cummings did a year ago on the Tour - when asked if he planned to continue.

"There's two more sprint opportunities, I think," he said. "Monday in Berne is not an easy sprint but it's a sprint and it's Nelson Mandela day so it's a big thing for the team.

"Then there's a rest day four days before Paris so I may as well try. I've said I'm not going to put myself over the edge so if I get sick or fall off I won't, but I'm in good shape, the team's in good morale so I'll carry on as long as I can."

As France began three days of national mourning, there was a minute's silence prior to the start of the stage to honour the victims of Thursday's terrorist attack in Nice.