Kittel claims another stage win as Froome retains yellow jersey

BERGERAC ( France): Marcel Kittel won the 10th stage of the Tour de France with remarkable ease, while Chris Froome stayed safely in the main pack to retain the race leader’s yellow jersey.

A sprint specialist, Kittel perfectly timed his effort in the final straight to post his fourth stage win since the start of the race, crossing the line ahead of fellow German John Degenkolb.

The stage took the peloton on a flat, 178km run from Perigueux to Bergerac in southwestern France.

Froome, the three-time Tour champion, will be wearing the yellow jersey for the 50th time. He will join five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil in fourth place on the alltime list of riders’ days in yellow – behind Eddy Merckx (96), Bernard Hinault (75), and Miguel Indurain (60).

“A huge, huge honour,” Froome said about the 50 days in yellow

Kittel was in 10th place after negotiating the two sharp corners of the technical final kilometer and used his impressive power to surge ahead his rivals with 150m left to secure his 13th career win on the Tour.

He won by a bike’s length and had plenty of time to raise his arms in celebration before crossing the line.

Kittel said his confidence is sky high after his string of victories.

“I know now from the last sprints that I can hold that speed to the finish line,” he said. “I almost cannot believe what’s happening here at the Tour.”

Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen completed the podium in the medieval town.

With Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and Arnaud Demare out of the race, Kittel strengthened his grip on the best sprinter’s green jersey. French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni, who had to settle for a sixth-place finish, acknowledged Kittel’s superiority.

“Kittel was the strongest, he came from behind,” Bouhanni said. “He won four sprints out of five, he is the best sprinter of this Tour.”

After a plane journey across France and a rest day for the riders, the race resumed in Perigueux for a flat ride through the lush landscapes of the Dordogne province in southwestern France.

Following a hectic stage in the Jura on Sunday and with two hard stages in the Pyrenees mountains later this week, Froome and his main rivals were happy to let two French riders with no ambitions for the overall race lead escape from the pack. – AFP