Tour de France: Kittel wins at the sprint easily

Photo: Jeff Pachoud Agence France-Presse
Marcel Kittel took advantage of the absence of Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish to spin only in the sprint.

In the absence of Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel was easily imposed in the sprint on Thursday, and he won the sixth stage of the Tour de France.

Chris Froome still holds the yellow jersey of race leader of the tour.

It is for Kittel to a second victory since the start of the tour, and the 11th stage victory in his career.

While the other contenders to the victory, piling up on the right side of the road, Kittel was capped on the left to settle in comfortably in the lead and cross first the finish line. “I had full confidence in my team,” said Kittel. I also had confidence in me today. There was a time when I could tear myself away and I was able to take the lead. “

Kittel admitted that the absence of Cavendish and Sagan (see box) has changed the pace of the tour, as he will no longer have to fight with them during sprints. “It is a bit of a shame that everything revolves around this decision, he noted. The level of competition in the sprints is still very, very high. “

Kittel crossed the 216 km, linking Vesoul and Troyes is 5 hours, 5 minutes and 34 seconds. Froome holds 12-second lead over his team-mate Geraint Thomas in the general classification. Italian Fabio Aru as follows, to 14 seconds of Froome.

Friday, at the seventh stage, the riders will 213,5 km between Troyes and Nuits-Saint-Georges. The stage will be punctuated by the rise of the coast of Urcy, a surge in category 4 of 2.5 km.

The call of Sagan rejected

The Court of arbitration for sport (CAS) has rejected a request to appeal the team of Peter Sagan after the disqualification of world champion in the Tour de France. The cyclist Slovak was excluded following an incident in which he appeared to give a nudge to the British Mark Cavendish in the final sprint of the fourth stage on Tuesday. The incident has forced Cavendish to abandon the competition due to a fractured right scapula.