Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) sprinted to his third victory of this year’s Tour de France, unleashing a perfectly timed sprint in Lille to win stage four.

Kittel outsprinted Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) to win on an incident-packed day which saw Chris Froome crash very early on.

Having won both of the sprint stages in England, Kittel ensured he continued where he had left off as racing resumed on an incident-packed day in France.

The German was pushed hard for the stage, however, with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) ensuring there was no repeat of his emphatic victory and Kittel admitted it had been a tough sprint.

“I’m still pretty tired,” he said post-stage. “It was really exhausting. We rode the final 30 kilometres at a really fast speed.

“It was pretty difficult to stay together with the team. The boys delivered me in front though and I was able to sit there on [Mark] Renshaw’s wheel.

“I could see the finish line but had been told to wait until the final corner. All the time I was just thinking about getting round that bend and I went really long.

“It was everything I had. It was really, really difficult. It was absolutely not a surprise. Alexander Kristoff is on our list of sprinters, he is a very dangerous guy.

“Today we saw we are not unbeatable. We always need a plan and have to focus really hard on our sprint.”

The stage in detail

An incident-packed stage, which started without injured former winner Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing), was packed with drama from the very start, with defending champion Froome taking an early tumble.

There was little Froome could do as jostling in front of him saw him take a heavy tumble, suffering abrasions and a wrist injury in the process.

He returned to the bunch, his shorts torn badly to reveal the extent of his road rash and his wrist evidently causing some pain, but he was able to continue in the peloton.

Froome was not the only one to go down in a frantic start either, with Bauke Mollema also falling in an unrelated incident as the first French stage of this year’s Tour proved to be surprisingly hazardous.

Meanwhile, at the front, Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) attacked early to form the day’s break.

Voeckler was seen chatting to Mate, urging him to stay out all day while accepting the applause of the pockets of his home fans lining the route.

After being allowed to build up a lead of three minutes, however, ‘breakaway killer’ Cheng Ji (Giant-Shimano) and Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) were quickly into their stride on the front of the bunch.

Both Voeckler and Mate were allowed to stay at two minutes in front of the bunch, where they remained for much of the stage.

With the intermediate sprint coming at the top of the uncategorised Cassel climb, jostling for positions occurred in the bunch – causing the two leaders’ advantage to drop right down.

Their cause was further hindered by Mate suffering a problem with his rear derailleur as they climbed the Cassel and by the time Peter Sagan has kicked to take third place in the sprint the gap between the Cannondale man and the two leaders had dropped to just one minute.

Bryan Coquard rode on Sagan’s wheel for the points, but after Sagan had words with the young French rider he abated – allowing the Slovakian to stretch his green jersey lead further.

Hostilities in the bunch eased on the cobbled descent of the hill, the bunch stringing out in the process and a few small – but not unassailable – gaps forming.

Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) were among those to lose contact at the back as first Cannondale and then Lotto-Belisol looked to put the hurt on at the front.

Cannondale’s Green Machine in particular pulled hard on the front as they looked to reduce the numbers in the final group for Sagan, with Kwiatkowski’s team-mates leading the chasing group further back.

Back up the road, with the gap to the escapees dropping, Voeckler was left to go it alone after Mate suffered further mechanical misfortune, this time in the form of a puncture.

The Frenchman was in his element, however, despite any slim hopes he harboured of a stage win now being nigh on impossible.

Taking the applause from the crowds, Voeckler certainly put on a good show, setting a great rhythm out of the saddle and pulling his usual array of faces as the peloton closed in on him.

But attention was quickly turning to chase – which proved to be as incident-packed as the start of the race as Paris-Roubaix winner Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) suffered a fall.

Lotto-Belisol also suffered a huge blow, Greg Henderson sliding out on a roundabout while leading the bunch – his injuries causing him to become the fourth rider to leave the race.

Lars Bak and Bart de Clercq were also brought down in the incident – caused by wet patches on the road – the surfaces of which became greasier towards the finish line.

It did not prompt any letting up of the pace, however, as – with the bunch all back together – Giant-Shimano led the way.

Voeckler was eventually brought back with 16.3km to go – the same time as Sagan suffered a minor fall at the back forcing him to bunny hop across street furniture as he chased desperately back on.

Garmin-Sharp, Omega Pharma-Quickstep, Orica-GreenEDGE and Giant-Shimano were all among the teams at the front as they sprint trains began to form.

Such was the pace set by Tony Martin, he even earned a gap off the front as he looked to put the hurt on – though the time trial ace declined the opportunity to go it alone.

Tensions were high in the bunch as the trains began to line-out, Team Europcar’s Kevin Reza striking out angrily as he tried to lead Coquard to the front.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep took over on the front however, with less than four kilometres to go – occupying prime road position as they prepared for the technical finale.

Giant-Shimano also came forward however, before Katusha led out the sprint from deep.

Kristoff was led out precisely by Porsev, hitting the front with perfect timing as they rounded the final bend, with Kittel delaying his sprint as long as possible.

The German momentarily looked to have mistimed his sprint, as Kristoff and Demare hit the front but once again Kittel could not be stopped.

Powering forward from well back, the German had in fact timed his sprint to perfection as he proved once again he is the best bar none when it comes to the sprint – Kristoff left pounding his handlebars in frustration.

Further back, the main GC contenders all finished safely in the bunch, though there was one notable change – Froome surrendering fifth place to Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) on count-back, which will see the Team Sky car relegated one place in the convoy for the cobbled stage five.

Tour de France 2014: stage four – result

1) Marcel Kittel (GER) – Giant-Shimano – 3.36.39hrs
2) Alexander Kristoff (NOR) – Team Katusha –ST
3) Arnaud Demare (FRA) – FDJ.fr
4) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Cannondale
5) Bryan Coquard (FRA) – FDJ.fr
6) Andre Greipel (GER) – Lotto-Belisol
7) Mark Renshaw (AUS) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep
8) Danny van Poppel (NED) – Trek Factory Racing
9) Davide Cimolai (ITA) – Lampre-Merida
10) Daniel Oss (ITA) – BMC Racing

General classification (provisional)

1) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Astana – 17.07.52hrs
2) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Cannondale +2”
3) Michael Albasini (SUI) – Orica-GreenEDGE – ST
4) Greg van Avermaet (BEL) – BMC Racing
5) Alberto Contador (ESP) – Tinkoff-Saxo