( CNN ) -- Eddy Merckx was known as 'The Cannibal ' -- but there 's one man who 's determined to take a large bite out of his stage victories record . That man is Mark Cavendish -- the man who won Wednesday 's fifth stage of the Tour de France and took his tally of wins to 24 to move to within 10 of record holder Merckx . Merckx , a five-time winner of the Tour , won six stages in 1969 and 1972 , and eight in 1970 and 1974 during an illustrious career . He achieved the treble feat of winning the Giro d'Italia , Tour de France and World Championship Road Race in 1974 -- one of only two men to have done so . But his Tour record is under threat with British rider Cavendish quickly becoming a serious challenger . Cavendish came home just ahead of Team Sky 's Edvald Boasson Hagen and Cannodale 's Peter Sagan in Wednesday 's crash affected race . The Omega-Pharm rider , who won five stages at the Giro d'Italia looked in ominous form , despite suffering from a chest infection . `` I 'm still not 100 % after being ill last week , '' he told reporters . `` But it 's good to get the account open here at the Tour de France . The morale is good in the team and the only way to make it better is by winning more stages . '' Australia 's Simon Gerrans retained the leader 's yellow jersey following the 228.5 kilometer stretch -- the second longest stage of the Tour . The Orica-GreenEdge man was pleased with his day 's work -- despite teammate and main sprinter Matt Goss being held up by a crash 12 km from the finish . `` Today we had two objectives , '' Gerrans told reporters . `` To try and win the stage and keep the yellow jersey within the team . `` Matt Goss got distanced on the final climb but I still have the yellow jersey on my shoulders and I managed to stay up the front and stay out of trouble . ''
Mark Cavendish won the fifth stage of the 2013 Tour de France . Cavendish has now won 24 stages -- 10 fewer than record holder Eddy Merckx . Australia 's Simon Gerrans retained yellow jersey .