Following Sunday’s calamitous stage nine and Monday’s rest day, the Tour de France returned with a calmer stage 10. It was another comfortable sprint finish for Germany’s Marcel Kittel.Germany’s Marcel Kittel has won the tenth stage of the 2017 Tour de France with Britain’s Chris Froome remaining in the yellow jersey.
Kittel’s fourth stage win of this year’s Tour was the 13th of his career, taking him one ahead of German cycling legend Erik Zabel.
After Monday’s day off, stage ten took the remaining riders 178km from Périgueux to Bergerac, sprint specialist Kittel crossing the line a couple of bike lengths ahead of compatriot John Degenkolb in second and Dylan Groenewegen in third.
“It’s true, it’s amazing, I can’t even tell you how proud I am,” said Quick-Step’s Kittel. “A fourth stage win in 10 days is a great achievement for me and the team.”
Kittel has now won four of the five flat sprint finishes at this year’s Tour (he was held up by a crash in the other one) and a record eight stage wins on a single Tour has now become a distinct possibility.
‘A second day off’ for Froome
Yellow jersey holder Froome remained safely within the peloton and the defending champion admitted that stage ten was almost felt like “a second day off.”
“It was a calmer day, there wasn’t much wind and no stress,” he said, no doubt referring to the horrific crashes which saw five riders crash out of the race on Sunday.
“It was a less complicated stage. It’s never easy but today was calmer.”
mf/ (AFP/dpa)
