On 2 July, he won the opening stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish at Utah Beach, taking his twenty-seventh stage win, and donning the yellow jersey for the first time. He lost the jersey the following day when Sagan won stage two. Cavendish won stage three in a photo finish with André Greipel in Angers, taking his twenty-eighth win and equalling Bernard Hinault's tally. This win put him in the lead of points classification. He won stage six in a bunch sprint at Montauban, ahead of Marcel Kittel and Dan McLay, to increase his lead. Sagan retook the green jersey from Cavendish on the tenth stage, where the Slovakian was part of a breakaway that led the race until the end. He finished second to Michael Matthews at the finish line in Revel and won the stage's intermediate sprint. Cavendish went on to take his fourth stage of the 2016 Tour, and his thirtieth Tour stage victory on stage fourteen, passing Alexander Kristoff and Sagan at the finish in Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux. He quit the Tour on the second rest day before the mountainous stages citing his need to prepare for the Olympics. Having competed in two previous Olympics, Cavendish finally won his first medal, finishing second in the men's omnium.