Flat stages at the Tour de France are supposed to be predictable – the peloton rides at an incredible pace all day, then the sprint teams gather and Mark Cavendish is led out to victory.
Yet the 100th edition of cycling’s greatest race has been nothing but predictable – bus crashes, punishing mountain stages and now an heir to the throne of the Tour’s greatest ever sprinter.
As Omega Pharma-Quickstep led the Manxman out in the final kilometre yesterday, the stage was perfectly set for his 25th Tour de France stage victory until Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) came from behind to pip him on the line.
The German has now won three stages at this year’s Tour, and the 25-year-old still has time to add to his tally with two flat stages remaining.
There was bad news for compatriot Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagan however, as the former’s hopes of a stage victory were ended by a crash which put the latter out of the Tour.
Read what Cavendish, Kittel, Greipel and many more made of another frantic and enthralling stage.
