German rider Marcel Kittel won Tuesday’s 10th stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish and Chris Froome stayed out of trouble to keep the leader’s yellow jersey.
Kittel held off countryman Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish in a dash to the line to win his second stage of the Tour. But Cavendish could be in trouble after appearing to nudge Dutchman Tom Veelers off his bike as they sprinted for home.
The 25-year-old Kittel became the first rider to win two stages on this year’s race, after taking the first stage of what has been an incident-filled centenary Tour so far. “Things went very well with my team today,” Kittel said.
“I managed to get on Greipel’s wheel and overtake him.” Peter Sagan, who won the green jersey for best sprinter on last year’s Tour, finished the stage in fourth.
The Slovak holds a commanding 83-point lead over Greipel and is 103 clear of his archrival Cavendish, who won the green jersey in 2011.
The finish looked tailor-made for Cavendish, who was looking for his 25th career Tour stage win to move level with Frenchman Andre Leducq on the all-time list of Tour stage winners.
As the British rider moved into position to attack before the final corner, Cavendish appeared to lean into Veelers and send the Argos-Shimano rider flying off his bike. Race stewards were examining the incident.
“I hope that Tom isn’t hurt too badly,” his teammate Kittel said.
Following a rest day, the 197-kilometer (122-mile) flat trek started from Saint-Gildas-Des-Bois in northwestern France and finished in the walled port city of Saint-Malo, a popular tourist destination on the northern coast of Brittany and the pack started off at a gentle pace.
Froome, who was the Tour runner-up to countryman Bradley Wiggins last year, has a healthy lead over second-place Alejandro Valverde and two-time champion Alberto Contador. “The whole team enjoyed the rest day yesterday and we are ready for the coming weeks. The time trial will be a very good chance for me.”