Kittel wins third Tour de France stage in Tours
Froome avoids crash in final kilometers to keep yellow
Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) continued his dream Tour de France with victory on stage 12. The German charged around Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) in full flight to take his third victory of the 2013 edition. Cavendish looked like he had the legs to take it, but Kittel had the speed to overhaul the Manx Missile in the final metres.
"Both teams had no real lead-out trains in the finale, so every lead out guy had to go long," Kittel said after his win. "I had to go onto the wheel of Cavendish and then I waited a little before I started my sprint. It was close."
Peter Sagan had to settle for third place. The Cannondale rider still holds a commanding lead of 94 points in the green jersey competition. Cavendish moved into second, 16 points ahead of André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol). A crash in the final three kilometres left Greipel without any teammates at the finish. Greg Henderson, Jurgen Roelandts and Marcel Sieberg all went down, leaving Greipel stuck behind. The German was unable to get back and he crossed the line in the main bunch.
After leaving last year's Tour in the first week, Kittel was more than delighted to have rectified it. "The win today means a lot to me. This is my third win in the Tour de France and in Germany we say 'Good things come in threes'," the Argos-Shimano sprinter said. "I would like to dedicate it to my team, especially Tom Veelers who is still in a lot of pain. I saw him after the stage and he was in tears. I love my team."
Chris Froome avoided the crash to finish safely in the group and retain his yellow jersey. Froome put a lot of time into his rivals in yesterday's time trial, but it wasn't without some ramifications. "I could definitely feel the legs from the efforts of yesterday," he said at the finish. "But they got better as the stage went on. Today was the most relaxed day in the Tour so far and it was a great win by Kittel. We've got a couple more of these sprint stages and then we'll be ready for the mountains."
How it happened
This year's Tour de France hasn't seen much resistance to the breakaways. That continued today with the first attack proving fruitful. Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Manuele Mori (Lampre-Merida), Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM), Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun) were the ones to go up the road.
The quintet got a maximum gap of nine minutes before the peloton decided to pick up the pace. With an assured sprint finish, there were plenty of teams on hand to keep the escapees on a short leash.
Gavazzi took full points at the intermediate sprint, leaving it to the sprinters to mop up the remaining positions. As ever it was hotly contested between Cavendish, Greipel and Sagan. Cavendish was the one to come out on top this time, ahead of Greipel. Sagan was left to lick his wounds and vent his annoyance after being blocked by Vacansoleil's Kris Boeckmans.
For much of the day the pace was kept at a high 45kph, faster than any of the Tour's schedules. Sicard was obviously feeling it and he was the first of the escapees to begin his journey back to the peloton. He was caught with 43 kilometres to go. Keen to get the combative prize and some exposure for his team, Flecha refused to be caught and decided to go solo. The peloton seemed all too happy to let the Spaniard make a go of it. Heading under the 10km to go banner, Flecha had a small lead of 25 seconds over the main group. The Vacansoleil rider was finally caught with six kilometres remaining.
With the finish in sight, the pace of the peloton continued to rise, stringing out some of the more tired riders. Just after the three kilometres to go banner, Lotto-Belisol found themselves in a spot of bother. Henderson, Sieberg and Jurgen Roelandts all found themselves on the ground with several other riders. Greipel missed the crash, but was caught up behind him, making it impossible for him to contest the sprint.
The crash was evident at the finish, as many of the sprinters were without their lead-out men. Cavendish still had Gert Steegmans, who delivered him perfectly to the line. It looked like it was all set up for Cavendish, but Kittel jumped out in the final metres to make it a hat trick of victories.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | 4:49:49 |
2 | Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
3 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
4 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha | |
5 | Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
6 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge | |
7 | Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team | |
8 | Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar | |
9 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
10 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
11 | Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
12 | Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
13 | Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun | |
14 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
15 | Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
16 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
17 | Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team | |
18 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team | |
19 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
20 | Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
21 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
22 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
23 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
24 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
25 | Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
26 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
27 | Elia Favilli (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
28 | Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
29 | Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
30 | Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
31 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | |
32 | Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
33 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol | |
34 | Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
35 | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
36 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
37 | Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol | |
38 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
39 | Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
40 | Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
41 | Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
42 | Daniele Bennati (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
43 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
44 | Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Katusha | |
45 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | |
46 | Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
47 | Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
48 | Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
49 | Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar | |
50 | Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
51 | Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Sojasun | |
52 | Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha | |
53 | Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
54 | Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha | |
55 | Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Katusha | |
56 | Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
57 | Maarten Wynants (Bel) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
58 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
59 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
60 | Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team | |
61 | Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team | |
62 | Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
63 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
64 | Brian Vandborg (Den) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
65 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
66 | Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida | |
67 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
68 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
69 | Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
70 | Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha | |
71 | Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
72 | Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
73 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack Leopard | |
74 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp | |
75 | Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
76 | Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
77 | Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
78 | Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
79 | Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
80 | Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
81 | Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team | |
82 | Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
83 | Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
84 | Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida | |
85 | Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
86 | Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
87 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack Leopard | |
88 | Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
89 | John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
90 | Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team | |
91 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar | |
92 | Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
93 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | |
94 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
95 | Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
96 | Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
97 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Sojasun | |
98 | Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team | |
99 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun | |
100 | Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling | |
101 | Maxime Mederel (Fra) Sojasun | |
102 | Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
103 | Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
104 | Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
105 | Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Movistar Team | |
106 | Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
107 | Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
108 | Laurent Didier (Lux) RadioShack Leopard | |
109 | Andy Schleck (Lux) RadioShack Leopard | |
110 | Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) RadioShack Leopard | |
111 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard | |
112 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack Leopard | |
113 | Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack Leopard | |
114 | Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
115 | Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
116 | Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha | |
117 | Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha | |
118 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
119 | Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack Leopard | |
120 | Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
121 | Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:02:31 |
122 | David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp | 0:00:00 |
123 | Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:00 |
124 | Julien El Fares (Fra) Sojasun | 0:00:00 |
125 | Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ.fr | 0:00:00 |
126 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:00:00 |
127 | Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:00:00 |
128 | Jerome Coppel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:00:00 |
129 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:02:31 |
130 | Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:00 |
131 | David Veilleux (Can) Team Europcar | 0:03:00 |
132 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
133 | Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
134 | Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol | |
135 | Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | |
136 | Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha | |
137 | Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | |
138 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp | 0:00:00 |
139 | Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team | 0:03:00 |
140 | Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
141 | Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge | |
142 | Thomas Leezer (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
143 | Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:00 |
144 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:03:28 |
145 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:00 |
146 | Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 0:03:44 |
147 | Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
148 | Jerome Cousin (Fra) Team Europcar | |
149 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar | |
150 | Kévin Reza (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:00:00 |
151 | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun | 0:03:44 |
152 | Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
153 | Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol | |
154 | Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
155 | Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp | |
156 | Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
157 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling | 0:00:00 |
158 | Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 0:04:01 |
159 | Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
160 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling | 0:00:00 |
161 | David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Sky Procycling | 0:04:01 |
162 | Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
163 | Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
164 | Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
165 | Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
166 | Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
167 | Boy van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:00 |
168 | Danny van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:00 |
169 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida | 0:00:00 |
170 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:04:01 |
171 | Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
172 | Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
173 | Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge | |
174 | Lars Boom (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | 0:04:07 |
175 | Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:00 |
176 | Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Sojasun | 0:00:00 |
177 | William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ.fr | 0:00:00 |
178 | Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:00 |
179 | Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp | 0:00:00 |
180 | Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:00 |
181 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar | 0:00:00 |
182 | Brice Feillu (Fra) Sojasun | 0:07:09 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 20 | pts |
2 | Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 17 | |
3 | Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida | 15 | |
4 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun | 13 | |
5 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 11 | |
6 | Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 10 | |
7 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol | 9 | |
8 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 8 | |
9 | Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 7 | |
10 | Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Belisol | 6 | |
11 | Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 5 | |
12 | Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto Belisol | 4 | |
13 | David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Sky Procycling | 3 | |
14 | Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Sky Procycling | 2 | |
15 | Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | 45 | pts |
2 | Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 35 | |
3 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 30 | |
4 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha | 26 | |
5 | Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida | 22 | |
6 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge | 20 | |
7 | Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team | 18 | |
8 | Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar | 16 | |
9 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 14 | |
10 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 12 | |
11 | Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 10 | |
12 | Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 8 | |
13 | Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun | 6 | |
14 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | 4 | |
15 | Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | 4:49:49 |
2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
3 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
4 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
5 | Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team | |
6 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
7 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
8 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
9 | Elia Favilli (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
10 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | |
11 | Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
12 | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
13 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
14 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
15 | Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
16 | Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
17 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Sojasun | |
18 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun | |
19 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack Leopard | |
20 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
21 | Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
22 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:02:31 |
23 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp | |
24 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
25 | Jerome Cousin (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:03:44 |
26 | Kévin Reza (Fra) Team Europcar | |
27 | Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Sky Procycling | 0:04:01 |
28 | Boy van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
29 | Danny van Poppel (Ned) Vacan |