Tour de France 2014: King Kittel scores 4 out of 3

Tuesday July 8th, 2014 - The first Tour stage in 2014 on French soil leads in 163,5 flat kilometres from Le Touquet to Lille. All eyes are on the sprinters who scored two out of three: King Kittel. The Germans makes it three out of four, be it less impressive then earlier victories this Tour. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 4th stage Tour de France 2014

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger)
2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) s.t.
3. Arnaud Démare (fra) s.t.
4. Peter Sagan (Svk) s.t.
5. Bryan Coquard (fra) s.t.
6. André Greipel (Ger) s.t.
7. Mark Renshaw (aus) s.t.
8. Danny van Poppel (Nld) s.t.
9. Davide Cimolai (ita) s.t.
10. Daniel Oss (ita) s.t.

GC after stage 4th stage
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Peter Sagan (Svk) + 0.02
3. Michael Albasini (Swi) s.t.
4. Greg van Avermaet (bel) s.t.
5. Alberto Contador (spa) s.t.
6. Alejandro Valverde (spa) s.t.
7. Chris Froome (gbr) s.t.
8. Jurgen Van den Broeck (bel) s.t.
9. Bauke Mollema (Nld) s.t.
10. Jakob Fuglsang (den) s.t.

Race report
Maté and Voeckler break away soon and with a few kilometres done Chris Froome hits the deck. Brused he can continue, but with the tomorrow’s cobbles in mind it’s not convenient at all.

In the meantime Luis Angel Maté and Thomas Voeckler cycle to a gain of over 3 minutes after 30 kilometres. Then the bunch takes control and the gap goes down to 2 minutes. A front wheel puncture ends the Maté-story and Voeckler soloes on upfront untill 16 kilometres from the finish line.

In the streets of Lille the Giant-Shimano train is derailed, still Kittel takes the sprint, be it a close call this time. In the final metres an impressive jump takes him past San Remo-winner Alexander Kristoff.