Cavendish wins as Froome lead is slashed

Mark Cavendish won an extraordinary stage 13 of the Tour de France as a successful breakaway saw Chris Froome's race lead cut by over a minute.

Exceptional work by Alberto Contador's Saxo-Tinkoff team allowed a breakaway containing several GC contenders stay clear of yellow jersey Froome and a fractured peloton, while Cavendish outsprinted green jersey Peter Sagan to take his second stage win of this year's race – and the 25th Tour scalp of his career.

Bauke Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam, the Dutch duo from Belkin, were also in the decisive break, as Froome's Team Sky support imploded on a blustery day that had been expected to provide a run-of-the-mill bunch sprint finish.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde was the big loser of the day after picking up a puncture just as the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team of Cavendish forced the first splits in the peloton.

Second on GC after stage 12, Valverde was distanced in a group alongside triple stage winner Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) with more than 85km remaining, the Movistar rider eventually coming home a massive nine minutes and 53 seconds in arrears to drop out of the top ten and see his chances of a podium place in Paris disappear.

German national champion Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) led the main pack over the line 1:09 down on the Saxo-fuelled breakaway as Froome saw his lead at the top of the standings cut to 2:28 on Mollema, who finished the stage in third place behind Cavendish and Sagan.

Contador, whose Saxo-Tinkoff team-mates forced the late break 32km from the finish, rose to third on GC, 2:45 down on his rival Froome. The Spaniard’s Czech team-mate Roman Kreuziger is fourth, at 2:48, while Ten Dam is now fifth, at 3:01.

Played out under another bright blue sky, Friday’s 173km stage from Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond looked like the usual transitional fodder as a group of six escapees broke clear from the outset and built up a maximum lead of three minutes over the peloton.

But fierce crosswinds in the Indre region of central France completely changed the dynamic of the race after Omega Pharma-Quick Step piled on the pressure with over 110km still left to race.

The first break was swept up as numerous splits occurred in the peloton and the in-form Kittel was among the riders dropped.

What started as a means to rid the main pack of the man who beat Cavendish in Tours the day before soon took on a different complexion when Valverde punctured on the exposed road shortly after the only categorised climb of the day.The veteran Spaniard was surrounded by five Movistar team-mates – and although they rode to within 12 seconds of the main pack, the combination of winds and the arrival of Belkin alongside OPQS saw that gap balloon to over a minute.

Soon Valverde rode alongside Kittel in a main chasing group, with another grupetto minutes further back.

Just when it seemed that Valverde was to be the only big name casualty of the day, Saxo-Tinkoff took advantage of a slight split on the front of the pack to blow life back into the 2013 Tour.

Instigated by former Team Sky rider Michael Rogers, six Saxo-Tinkoff riders edged ahead and were joined by around a dozen others – including Cavendish and Sagan.

“The opportunity arose for us and we took it and rode as hard as we could,” a shattered Rogers said after the stage. “We decided in a split second. I said to the boys, ‘let’s go, we have nothing to lose’. This race is not over yet.”

Over rolling terrain as the race approached the finish, the gap slowly increased just as Froome’s support got thinner and thinner. One by one, the likes of Kanstantsin Siutsou and Ian Stannard dropped back, leaving Froome badly in need of the injured Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was forced out on Thursday with a broken right shoulder.

Meanwhile, on the front of the race Contador rallied not only his team-mates but also the rest of the break, reminding Mollema and Ten Dam just how much they too stood to gain.

As the leaders approached the centre of Saint-Amand-Montrond, Cavendish and Sagan – the two danger men for the stage victory – rode on the back in anticipation of the final sprint.

Nicki Terpstra led OPQS into the final kilometre before handing over to Sylvain Chavanel. Cavendish then roared forward, and although Sagan rode in his rival’s wheel, the Slovak sensation did not have the speed to challenge for the win.

“It’s was incredible,” Cavendish said after his 25th win on the Tour. “When echelons start you have just five seconds to react or it’s too late. It's like falling through ice - you have five seconds of it's over. I almost missed the Saxo split but just made it on. The whole team rode out of their skin today.”

Cavendish’s second victory of a troubled Tour sees the Manxman cut Sagan’s lead in the green jersey standings to 84 points.Meanwhile, Froome retained his overall lead but the 28-year-old’s grip on the yellow jersey looked increasingly vulnerable at the hands of Saxo-Tinkoff and Belkin’s combined efforts.

“These kinds of stages often look simple on paper but that’s not always the case,” he said. “I was feeling comfortable but I missed the split. After that, it wasn’t easy for anyone.

“Tomorrow is lumpy and then we have the Ventoux. It’s going to be a very exciting weekend of racing.”

It’s party time for loved-up Argos speed king Kittel

If there's a crash in the final few kilometres in this Tour de France then you can be sure that Marcel Kittel will be there to mop up the pieces and take the win.

Following victories on the opening day in Bastia and on Tuesday in Saint-Malo, the Argos-Shimano speedster secured his hat-trick in Tours with the best yet: a head-to-head win over the fastest urinal on two wheels, Mark Cavendish.

Before the Tour, Argos-Shimano made a series of videos with each of their riders giving a glimpse at "the person behind the rider".

Kittel's video is particularly interesting. You find out how he was initially a time triallist who was brought into the team as a lead-out man - but then started winning sprints, including four in the Tour of Poland in 2011.

"My goals for this year are simple," Kittel - dressed in a white t-shirt, denim jacket and trademark quiffed hair - says. "I want to be successful on the Tour. I want to come out of the Tour with a stage win, and when I think further I would like to take advantage of every possibility that I get as a sprinter to achieve success."

Well, the first is a given: Kittel has been an unqualified success on this Tour. He's been a success because he has three of what he was targeting - stage wins - and to achieve this success, he had indeed taken advantage of every scrap coming his way.

In stage one it was that huge pile-up that occurred just as the Orica-GreenEdge bus was extricating itself from the finish line gantry. In stage 10 it was a crash to his lead-out man Tom Veelers and the subsequent slowing of Cavendish. In stage 12 it was the nasty bike-tangle that did for three of Andre Greipel's Lotto train while holding up the Gorilla in the ensuing melee.

But saying Kittel only wins when his rivals are picking themselves up off the ground is doing the highly affable 25-year-old a huge disservice. Sure, Bastia was rather fortunate, but Saint-Malo required Kittel to come from behind to beat his country's national champion.

Then Tours on Thursday was the pick of the bunch: not only coming from behind to beat Cavendish, but to beat a Cavendish fired up by the lingering smell of urine in his nose, a Cavendish with a point to prove after his previous clash with Tom Veelers and the Argos train.

Kittel made a point of mentioning Veelers in his post-stage speech, dedicating the win to "a great guy" who "still has pain from the wounds" and who "was in tears" after having to "fight today just to finish".

The hyperbole was absolutely, extraordinarily and wholeheartedly apparent - and there's no denying that Kittel was perhaps stirring the pot a little. But it wasn't so much having a dig at Cavendish (to whom Kittel showed support after the dual "Wee-lers" incidents) as showing solidarity to his Argos-Shimano team, who he consistently refers to as family.

For Kittel indeed has a lot of love. Primarily, love for his team. But also for his sport and pretty much everyone around him. He's also one of those genuinely lovely guys who likes to spread good vibes because that's the kind of atmosphere in which he thrives.

Just look at him. With that crazy hair do - the sides shaved and the top resembling a sandy wave of hair perpetually on the verge of crashing on the shore of his tanned forehead - and his funky array of sunglasses, necklaces and V-necks, Kittel looks more like someone you'd see on the beach in Ibiza or buzzing in one of the Mediterranean isle's famous nightclubs, rather than a pro cyclist.

If Kittel's compatriot Jan Ullrich could have a weakness for disco biscuits while looking no more than your archetypal Bierpalast regular, then what about speed king Kittel, who pretty much looks like a raver from the moment he wakes up and steps out of bed. Every time he digs into his jersey pockets, you almost expect Kittel to dig out some glow sticks and a whistle.

Talking of Ullrich, the Rostock Kaiser is one of the select few German riders - the others being Rudi Altig, Erik Zabel and Greipel - whose three-stages-in-a-Tour club Kittel has now joined.

Quite remarkable, given this is effectively Kittel's first proper Tour after he rode five stages with gastroenteritis last year before throwing in the towel (a towel that even the most fervent fan would not like to keep as a collector's item).

Taking account of Tony Martin's win on Wednesday, this is the first time ever that Germany have won three stages in succession. Throw in Greipel's stage six win and that makes five from 12 - from a nation whose cycling fans can still not watch the Tour de France on live TV because of the on-going fall-out from the state-funded channels' anti-doping stance.

While Germany have five wins, the host nation is still awaiting its first. In fact, it is the first time since 1926 that France, Italy or Spain have not, between them, notched victories by this point in the race.

And what of Kittel's ultimate ambition?

"Every sprinter has a dream and my dream is to win on the Champs Elysees in the Tour de France," he says in the Argos-Shimano video.

Well, with the form he's showing plus the huge team effort behind him, perhaps Kittel will finally give Cavendish a run for his money in Paris. Cav, knackered from the Giro and clearly not in the same vein of form as previous Tours, has won on his past four visits to the famous Parisian cobblestones.

But all runs have to come to an end - just ask Kittel, who recovered fine from his stomach bug last summer. 12 months on, and you wouldn't bet against Kittel, fuelled on love, winning in Paris when he's this pumped up.

HOT: Argos-Shimano's sauna in Tours, 'Jean-Antoine' Flecha after his last-ditch effort to stay out ahead, and the scenes in the Europcar bus (where on French TV it looked distinctively like you saw a naked Davide Malacarne's birthday package).

NOT: Chris Froome's prospects of arriving in Paris with some Sky team-mates took a battering when Edvald Boasson Hagen crashed out with a broken right scapula. Manuele Mori of Lampre almost came a cropper when filling up his water cage, while Ag2R-La Mondiale's Blel Kadri somehow managed to summersault over his handlebars and almost land on his feet after a bizarre spill towards the back of the peloton.

STAGE 13: TOURS - SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND, 173KM

Saddles has a suspicion that Europcar's Yohann Gene will finish seventh in the bunch sprint, which sums it up really. Look, if you thought stage 12 was a bit boring, then stage 13 will be even worse. At least we had some chateaux to look at on Thursday. Friday is just the unremarkable Tourraine and Berry countryside - plus a five-man break that will be reeled in 15km from the finish.

There is a slight rise 10km from the finish, on the back side of which someone could jump clear for an audacious solo attempt. But most likely, it's a bunch affair which should be feisty: both Cavendish and Greipel really need wins, while Argos have the confidence - and could even surprise everyone by playing the John Degenkolb card.

But with Saint-Amand-Montrond effectively the bullseye of France (look on a map and you'll see it's dead centre) then perhaps we shouldn't discount a certain Cannondale rider who has Bull written all over his green bib shorts...

PLAT DU JOUR: You can't come to this region without trying the famous Œufs à la Couille d'Âne - which loosely translates as Donkey Testicle Eggs. Fortunately, they don't taste as exotic as they sound - in fact, they are eggs poached in a gravy of red wine and shallots.

Cavendish loses out to Kittel again in stage 12

Britain's Mark Cavendish was pipped again in a bunch sprint as Germany's Marcel Kittel won his third stage of the 2013 Tour de France in Tours.

The Manxman, normally such a deadly finisher, hit the front several hundred metres from home after a strong lead out by Omega Pharma-Quck Step team-mate Gert Steegmans, but found himself overhauled by a rampant Kittel of Argos-Shimano, who won by half a wheel's length.

Green jersey Peter Sagan (Cannondale) was third ahead of Norway’s Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Italian Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida). Yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished safely in the pack to retain his large lead on the general classification.

The long, flat 218km ride through the Loire Valley from Fougeres to Tours was marred by yet another big crash which ended the hopes of Kittel’s fellow German Andre Greipel. The stage six winner was one of a dozen riders involved in a nasty pile-up inside the final three kilometres, taking the formidable Lotto Belisol train out of the equation.

After his run-in with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers on Tuesday and his unsavoury experience involving a disgruntled fan and a bottle of urine during Wednesday’s time trial at Mont-Saint-Michel, Cavendish looked certain to have put his recent travails behind him with a second win of the race.

But Kittel powered through from behind to secure his hat-trick and Germany’s fifth stage of the race. Following Kittel’s victory on Tuesday and Tony Martin’s ITT success on Wednesday, this is the first time in the history of the Tour that Germany has won three consecutive stages.

“I’m speechless. My team worked so well today – especially Tom Veelers, who rode really well despite everything that happened,” said 25-year-old Kittel.

“They say good things happen in threes and that has happened for me today.”Cavendish, who won stage five in Marseille in the opening week of the race, was stoic and gracious in defeat after his latest setback.

“He [Kittel] was just a bit too quick for me,” he told reporters after the stage. “My team did such a good job again but I just didn’t have the legs.”

Britain’s Froome narrowly missed coming down in the large pile-up and then had a number of dicey moments in the last two kilometres as he rode near the front in a bid to avoid any spills.

“It’s always like that in the final before a sprint,” said the 28-year-old race leader. “Today there were some crashes and that’s always a scare. It’s hard because there are crashes all over the place.”

Froome’s Norwegian team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen was one of the riders who fell heavily in the large pile-up towards the finish. Although Boasson Hagen crossed the line holding his left shoulder, Team Sky manager David Brailsford told the press that he had not broken his collarbone.

Other than the feisty finale, stage 12 was a rather monotonous affair whose main highlights came more from the glorious chateaux of the Loire valley than any action on two wheels.

A break of five rode clear of the peloton after the Italian Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) attacked three kilometres from the start at Fougeres.

Gavazzi was joined by follow Italian Manuele Mori (Lampre-Merida), Spaniard Juan Antonion Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) and French duo Romain Sicard (Euskaltel) and Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun), the five fugitives building up a maximum lead of nine minutes under bright blue sky.

This advantage was whittled down to just three minutes by the time the leaders passed through the intermediate sprint 50km from the finish. The sprint at Savigne-sur-Lathan offered a rare moment of action in the peloton, with green jersey Sagan shaking his fist at Belgian Kris Boeckmans after the Vacansoleil-DCM rider appeared to box in Cannondale’s Sagan beside the road barriers.

Sagan nevertheless finished in the wheels of Cavendish and Greipel to consolidate his green jersey points haul. There was no let-up for the teams of the sprinters who, once the intermediate gallop was done, re-grouped in pursuit of the escapees.

Flecha was the last of the break to be caught by the pack, the Spanish veteran reeled in with 6km remaining after a gutsy attempt to stave off the inevitable.

Canadian veteran Svein Tuft crashed on the front of the peloton after the Orica-GreenEdge veteran entered a roundabout 4km from the finish with too much speed.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step came to the front alongside Argos-Shimano – and Lotto Belisol were just forming their train when the pile-up happened 2km from the finish, effectively ending their chances of guiding the German national champion Greipel to his own second win.

By not placing in the final sprint, Greipel lost ground in the battle for the green jersey, with Slovakia’s Sagan now leading Cavendish by 96 points, and the German dropping to third place a further 16 points in arrears.

There was no change in the overall standings, with Froome retaining his 3:25 lead over Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Belkin) is third at 3:37 and Spain’s Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) is fourth at 3:54.

The Tour continues on Friday with the flat 173km stage 13 from Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond – a chance for Cavendish to get a belated second win, or perhaps for Kittel to take a historic fourth victory.

Froome earns huge lead as Martin wins TT

Chris Froome tightened his grip on the Tour de France, extending his overall lead to well over three minutes at the halfway mark with a predictably brilliant performance in the time trial.

German world time trial champion Martin, who suffered a concussion and bruises in a mass crash on the race's first stage, blasted round the flat 33-km course in 36 minutes 29 seconds to take the 11th stage.

"When the doctor said I was ok to race (after the first stage), I targeted this stage," pre-stage favourite Martin, who uses an awe-inspiring 58x11 gear in the time trials, told a news conference.

Froome, adorned in the race leader's yellow jersey, was the last man down the start ramp and was two seconds quicker than Martin at the 22-km check point.

But the Team Sky rider could not maintain the pace pedalling into a headwind over the latter part of the stage and finished 12 seconds down on Martin, with Belgian Thomas De Gendt third.

Froome was the big winner of the day, though, gaining two minutes on his nearest rival in the race standings and now leads Spain's Alejandro Valverde by 3:25.

Wednesday's result will perhaps implant a nagging doubt into the minds of his rivals that there is no use in contesting for the lead anymore - better in the mountains, better in the time trials, Froome will win the Tour.

"I'm happy with how the stage went. A time trial is always a nervous day for GC (general classification) riders so I'm happy I have extended my lead," Froome told a news conference.

The Olympic time trial bronze medallist is not taking anything for granted, even though he hammered his rivals in the first mountain stage and survived an early onslaught in the second last Sunday.

"I think that we saw last weekend that other teams are going to throw everything at us and we will try to do with the best team we've got."

Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands remains third overall 3:37 back with twice Tour champion Alberto Contador fourth at 3:54 after riding a decent, yet unimpressive time trial.

"It's a big (time) difference. Things are getting complicated but, no, the Tour is not lost. No one has won the Tour yet," Contador told reporters.

Valverde, instead, seemed to be content with his second place overall.

"Two minutes (the time he lost to Froome) is a lot but you've got to look at the other riders who are fighting for a podium finish," the Movistar rider said.

"I was with the bests, I'm happy."

Cadel Evans's performance on the stage, 21st 2:30 behind Martin, confirmed the 2011 champion was past his prime.

"I did not feel bad, but not great either," the Australian, now 14th overall almost seven minutes off the pace, told reporters.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg will effectively have to focus on a stage win as his slim hopes of featuring somewhere in the top five evaporated when he finished an embarrassing 123rd, 4:44 off the pace.

With some of his rivals, like Valverde, apparently already gunning for no more than a podium finish, Froome could use a defensive strategy in the Alps, starting with Sunday's stage up the Mont Ventoux, with the help of his team.

"Richie (Porte) slipped back from second place in GC but he showed today that he is not out of this race," said Froome, referring to the Australian's fourth place in the stage.

"I expect him to be there in the mountains with Pete Kennaugh.

"Alejandro Valverde is the rider whom I have to take care of the most," he added.

"But I think there are other guys that we will have to mark for the next week."

There was little to smile about for Mark Cavendish, however, as the Briton had urine thrown at him on his way to the Mont Saint Michel - yet another jaw-dropping backdrop for the 100th edition of the Tour.

"Mark is one of the big characters in the sport, some people love him, others hate him, but to do this is very sad," said Froome. "It ruins the whole atmosphere. It leave a bad taste in your mouth. A bad taste in Mark's mouth."

No joke as Portal appointment proves masterstroke

When Nicolas Portal was offered a sports director position at Team Sky, the Frenchman thought it was a joke, yet he is now guiding rider Chris Froome's bid for Tour de France victory.

Portal, at 34 the youngest sports director, or DS (directeur sportif) in the three-week race, took the number one position after Briton Sean Yates left the team following last year's Tour.

"When Dave (Brailsford) offered me the job I thought it was a joke, some kind of British humour," Portal, a former professional rider who ended his career with Sky after the 2010 season, told Reuters.

"I had four out of 20 in my oral test and two out of 20 in my written test at my A levels."

That was not enough for Brailsford to rule Portal out of the position and he is now the one calling the shots from the team car.

"He's got a real feeling of the race. He has ridden for big leaders, he knows the Tour de France," Brailsford told Reuters.

"I like the fact that he was French, I like the French. We're British with an international team."

Portal, who completed six Tours as a rider for the AG2R and Caisse d'Epargne teams, was not sure initially he had what it takes to succeed at Sky, where nothing is left to chance.

"How could I be a DS while I'm younger than some of the riders, I don't speak English?," he queried.

"Even Brad (Wiggins) and Chris (who both speak French) speak to me only in English. So for 15 days, I thought about it night and day before accepting.

As usual, Brailsford had it all figured out.

"If you break it down it's knowledge, skills and behaviour," he explained. "That's what you look at when you appoint somebody.

"Knowledge is something you get from experience and he's got experience. You can teach him skills, like language skills," Brailsford added, although Portal still has a thing or two to learn in that department.

"The other day I was explaining to the young guys that everything was bigger on the Tour, that they needed to recuperate as soon as they could. And I said 'when you're on the massage table, have a night cap'... I mixed it up, I wanted to say 'lie in'," Portal said.

"Chris was already smiling but I saw Geraint (Thomas) looking at me with big eyes..."

This is one of the things Brailsford liked about Portal - his fresh attitude.

"That's why we took him on board," he said.

Portal learnt the ropes with Yates, the man behind the wheel when Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour last year.

"He got along very well with Sean," said Brailsford.

"He learnt an awful lot from Sean so when Sean stopped working at the team it pushed him up the list and there he is."

Brailsford believes Portal still needs 'flying air miles' and the Frenchman got some very important ones last Sunday when Froome survived an early ambush from his rivals.

"That day I lost a year of my life in the car," Portal said.

"I really enjoyed my role as a director. It was as if I was on the bike, as if I was one of his team mates in the mountain.

"I loved that day (on Sunday). It was so intense I did not even drink or eat. I was so absorbed. My brain was calculating everything," he added.

A rather laid-back character, Portal revels in Sky's high-tech environment.

"They are very rigorous, everyone gives more than 100 percent. It's a huge challenge for me," he said.

"I like that. All the riders listen to me. I'm not sure some French 'star' riders would listen to me. When I speak, Brad, Chris, Geraint or Peter Kennaugh listen to me. It's such a pleasure working with them."

Fan 'throws urine' at Cavendish

Britain's Mark Cavendish has apparently been soaked in urine thrown at him by a spectator during the Tour de France.

Cavendish was taking part in the 11th stage, a 33km individual time trial from Avranches to Mont St Michel, when the incident happened.

Tour organisers have confirmed that a liquid was thrown at Cavendish, but there is as yet no official confirmation that it was definitely urine. Cavendish apparently believed it was water at first until the smell and taste told him otherwise.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step team manager Patrick Lefevere said: "I regret this, I always felt that cycling fans were gentlemen, enthusiastic people.

"Mark is sad, he's not upset, just sad. I cannot blame anyone, there are 100,000 or 200,000 people on the road, and one person decided to do this."

Jerome Pineau, a team-mate of Cavendish who hails from Northern France, revealed on Twitter that Cavendish had told him what happened during the 42-minute ride.

"Yesterday I was so proud of all the local support and encouragement along the route, but today I was ashamed when my friend Mark Cavendish told me that the fans were whistling at him and even threw urine at him during the ride. It's scandalous!"

The fact that the Manxman was targeted for abuse on Wednesday appears to be linked to the controversial end to Tuesday's stage, which saw Cavendish collide with opponent Tom Veelers during the final sprint for the line.

Veelers was outraged by what he believed was an elbow thrown his way, but Cavendish was not penalised over the incident and repeated viewings suggest that disqualification would have been very harsh, externalas Eurosport blogger Blazin' Saddles has explained.

Kittel sprints to stage 10 success, Froome safe in yellow

Marcel Kittel took stage 10 of the Tour de France after a bunch sprint in Saint-Malo with Britain's Chris Froome comfortably keeping hold of the yellow jersey.

Argos-Shimano sprinter Kittel avoided a crash by his lead-out man Tom Veelers – who seemed to be barged by Britain’s Mark Cavendish inside the closing 200 metres – to power past compatriot German Andre Greipel of Lotto-Belisol in the closing straight.

A disappointed Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was well beaten for third, while green jersey Peter Sagan of Cannondale had to settle for fourth place after being driven wide by the clash between Cavendish and Veelers.

Amazingly, Dutchman Veelers was the only rider to hit the deck in the high-speed crash, with Team Sky’s Froome finishing the 197km stage through Brittany safely to retain his lead at the top of the general classification.

An eventful bunch sprint saw Cavendish eschew the wheel of his regular lead-out man Gert Steegmans in favour of following that of old foe Greipel, who had once again got the better of his sprint rivals earlier in the day in the intermediate sprint.

Just as Greipel jumped, Cavendish responded with a dig – but found his path blocked by the slowing Veelers, who he clipped with his shoulder. The contact was enough to send Veelers – who had strayed slightly from his line – sprawling, while Cavendish’s attempt at doubling his stage haul was also hampered.Although Veelers claimed afterwards on French TV that Cavendish was at fault, the race commissaires have not issued any punishment for the 28-year-old Manxman. Cavendish has since apologised for his role in the accident.

Back to the finish, and Greipel's commanding lead was negated by Kittel’s blistering late surge, the 25-year-old coming from distance to roar past the German national champion in the final 100 metres to secure his second success of the race after victory on the Tour’s opening stage in Bastia.

It was Argos-Shimano’s 15th win of the season – 13 of which have come from Kittel.

Prior to the fireworks of the finale, the first day of the second phase of the race had been a largely uneventful ride through the rolling Breton hills.

Frenchman Julien Simon, whose home town of Montfort-sur-Meu was past during the course of the stage, attacked shortly after the official start in Saint-Gildas-des-Bois to force the day’s break, the 27-year-old from Ag2R-La Mondiale being joined by compatriot Jerome Cousin (Europcar), Spaniards Juanjo Oroz (Euskaltel) and Luis Mate (Cofidis), and Dutchman Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM).

Riding against strong headwinds but under a pleasant blue sky, the escapees quickly built up a maximum lead of five minutes, but this had been whittled down to just 2:15 by the time the riders passed through the town of Calorguen, where five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault bought a farm back in 1983.

The leaders did not contest the intermediate sprint 70km from the finish, but Greipel led the pack over to take the points for sixth place ahead of a resigned Sagan and Cavendish.

Westra attacked on the only climb of the day, the Cat.4 Cote de Dinan, 55km from the finish. He was soon caught before being the first of the escapees to be swept up by the pack inside the last 20km.

The remaining four fugitives held on until the last 6km, by which time serious crosswinds coming off the Breton coast had tested the teams of the race favourites.

With Saint-Malo fast approaching, Alberto Contador’s Saxo-Tinkoff outfit dropped back after some sustained pace-setting alongside Froome’s Sky colleagues. The scene was set for a mass bunch sprint – but the nasty crash somewhat diminished the spectacle.Greipel closed Sagan's lead in the green jersey competition to 83 points, with Cavendish a further 20 points back.

Froome retained his 1:25 lead over Spain’s Alejandro Valverde on GC, with Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Belkin) in third place, 1:44 down.

Hostilities for the general classification will resume on Wednesday with the race’s first individual time trial from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel, for which Froome will be one of the favourites alongside German national time trial champion Tony Martin (OPQS)