LAVAUR, France, July 13, 2011 (AFP) – Britain’s Mark Cavendish moved to quash speculation of another sprint clash with Frenchman Romain Feillu after claiming his third stage win of this year’s Tour de France Wednesday.

HTC-Highroad sprinter Cavendish and Feillu, who rides for Vacansoleil, traded barbs in the first week of the race as they battled for supremacy on the hectic bunch finishes.

Both riders have accused each other of being dangerous and apt to causing crashes. Cavendish notably labelled Feillu, who has yet to win a stage on the race, a “kamikaze”.

But after clashing with Feillu 600 metres from the finish of the 167.5 km stage from Blaye-Les-Mines to Lavaur — suffering a problem with his shoe in the process — the Isle of Man sprinter quickly absolved the Frenchman of any blame.

“With about 600 metres to go my shoe banged into his front wheel, my buckle came out, so my foot technically came out the shoe,” explained Cavendish.

“I had to reach down and redo the ratchet with 600 to go.

“There was nothing intentional, nothing dangerous. I’m not complaining about Feillu today, it could have been anybody else in the same situation.”

As Cavendish took his third sprint victory from this year’s race to take his career tally to 18, Feillu could only finish sixth.

The Frenchman later revealed he has been suffering from a sore right knee and was unlikely to start the 12th stage — the first of three consecutive days in the Pyrenees mountains — on Thursday.