Tour de France: Kittel wins in London

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With the finish line just a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, it was only fitting that stage 3 of the Tour de France ended in a sprint royale, and it was appropriate, too, that the honours fell to the current king of the fast men, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano).

In winning the opening two stages of his short-lived Giro d’Italia in May, Kittel had showed his powers of recovery on each occasion to retrieve seemingly lost causes in Belfast and Dublin. There were no such scares here – expertly marshalled by his Giant-Shimano team, Kittel was in pole position as the sprint began, and like Michael Johnson in his 200 metres heyday, he led from the front and all but dared his rivals to try and come around him.

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) seemingly had the box seat as the sprint began, tucked onto Kittel’s rear wheel, but he simply had no answer to the German’s power. When his last man Tom Veelers swung over with 200 metres remaining, Kittel surged clear and Sagan was unable to make up so much as an inch of ground.

“The team did a really great job. I was in perfect position, I just had to wait and wait. It was one of the fastest sprints I’ve ever done,” Kittel beamed afterwards. “It’s a big relief to have won two stages so quickly.”

In the absence of his leader Mark Cavendish, Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) battled gamely to take a fine third place, while young Bryan Coquard (Europcar) pipped Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) for fourth, but in truth, they were all simply scrambling for crumbs from the king’s table.

The man expected to challenge Kittel most closely in London – and the only man, perhaps, with the raw power to match him – was André Greipel, but although Lotto-Belisol were prominent in reeling in the day’s early break, the German seemed to lose his train in the finale and did not contest the finishing sprint.

The grand absentee, of course, was the erstwhile ruler of the sprinting domain, Mark Cavendish, whose Tour was ended by the crash he caused in the finishing straight at Harrogate. After winning four stages to Cavendish’s two a year ago, Kittel is now faced with the prospect of bettering that impressive haul this time around.

“It’s one big opponent that is not in the race and that changes things for me and the team,” Kittel said. “But there is plenty of competition still. There is also Sagan. And today’s stage was perfect for me, but maybe in another stage there could be an uphill finish that isn’t so good for me.”

Kittel confirmed, however, that his focus is solely on stage victories rather than the points classification, where even at this early juncture and with two stage wins to his name, he trails Sagan by 27 points. “I’m only here for stage wins,” he said.

While Sagan maintains his grip on the green jersey, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished safely in the main peloton to retain the overall lead, two seconds clear of Sagan, with Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in third. After a quiet start to proceedings, the rain made for an anxious finale, but the Sicilian was well-supported by his Astana squad and well-positioned throughout.

“It was very nervous in the finale with the rain, but we got there,” said Nibali, who finished alongside his overall rivals Chris Froome (Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) in the main peloton. “But the most important stages have still to come and the road is still long.”

Early break

After two hectic days of racing in Yorkshire, there was a decidedly more tranquil start to proceedings in Cambridge on Monday morning. With plenty of heavy legs in the peloton, there were few takers for the day’s early break, and Jean-Marie Bideau (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura) were given their bons de sortie when they escaped as soon as the flag was dropped.

The pair of Tour debutants quickly built up a lead of four minutes over the Astana-led peloton before delegations from Giant-Shimano, Lotto-Belisol and FDJ.fr all came to the front to ensure that the lead rose no further. Even so, there was a decided air of détente in the field, with the unfortunate Jan Bakelants’ brace of crashes the only events of note – beyond the enormous crowds – during the first 100 kilometres of action.

Cheng Ji (Giant-Shimano) was particularly prominent in leading the peloton’s pursuit of the leaders in the second half of the stage, as Nibali’s Astana guard had a gentle introduction to carrying the burden of the maillot jaune at the Tour de France.

The infusion of pace in the peloton on the approach to the day’s intermediate sprint at Epping Forest with 47km remaining – where Coquard took third ahead of Sagan – saw the break’s lead sliced to just over a minute. Although Barta and Bideau managed to stretch it back out to two minutes with 30km left, it was clear that they were on borrowed time. As rain began to fall steadily on the outskirts of London, so too did their advantage dissolve.

It appeared to be a stray supporter, rather than the rain, that caused Andy Schleck (Trek), Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) and Ted King (Cannondale) to fall with 28km left, but mercifully all three riders safely remounted and completed the stage.

The wet run-in saw the sprinters’ teams take it in turns to whittle away at the break’s lead, but it was striking, too, that the Tinkoff-Saxo team of Alberto Contador was prominent at the head of the pack right up to the final kilometres.

After first Bideau and then Barta were swept up with six kilometres remaining, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) took over at the front of the peloton, stringing it out in a long line, but even the world time trial champion had to give best to the collective might of Giant-Shimano on the approach to the Mall. All that was left was for Marcel Kittel to seize the crown for himself.

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