Chris Froome retained his top-ten position overall in Lille despite an early crash on stage four of the Tour de France.
Kittel takes third sprint win in blanket finish
Chris Froome retained his top-ten position overall in Lille despite an early crash on stage four of the Tour de France.
Froome went down hard on his left-hand side as a touch of wheels ahead left the Brit with nowhere to go – the front of his bike taken out from beneath him after only a handful of kilometres.
Immediately to his feet, the Team Sky rider made his way back to the peloton with the help of his team-mates before heading to the medical car to have cuts to his hip, knee and wrists attended to.
Negotiating the remainder of the 163.5km test with the help of the team, Froome ended the stage seventh overall, a slender two seconds off the yellow jersey of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), after dropping two spots courtesy of stage placings.
On an eventful stage Froome said: "I took a bit of a knock but I’m happy to make it through the day and get to the finish line without losing any time to my main competitors.
"The bumps and scrapes are fine but I fell heavily on my wrist so I needed to get it checked out by the doctors. I’m really pleased that I’ve been cleared to race and I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike tomorrow.
"The wrist is painful and it’s certainly not ideal going into tomorrow’s cobbled stage – but I have a great team around me and we’ll get through the next few days as best we can.
"One of the riders in front of me overlapped the wheel of another rider and caught my front wheel. I didn’t have time to react and I before I knew it I was on the ground. But that’s bike racing and I’m pleased I’ll be back on the race tomorrow."
Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) claimed a hat-trick of stage wins by a narrow margin after the German was forced to track down and pass Alexander Kristoff on the line. The Katusha rider held on for second, while Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) claimed third in a blanket finish.
Earlier, Thomas Voeckler was highly motivated as the flag dropped in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage and the Europcar rider hit out alongside breakaway specialist Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis).
The duo were never allowed to build up a gap and were quickly pegged after the peloton picked up speed again as Froome re-joined the fray.
Business picked up after the sprint point in Cassel as the pace in the pack increased and echelons briefly formed as the sprinters’ teams looked to apply the pressure.
Slick roads greeted the peloton for the second finish in succession, with a relentless Voeckler finally reeled in with 16km to go to set up the bunch kick.
