Marcel Kittel powered to victory in the last stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, thereby taking his fourth stage win of this race.
Kittel’s Giant-Shimano team once again played a huge roll in the success, keeping Kittel out of trouble and then setting him up perfectly despite a hectic final corner where they had to fight for their position in a battle that included Team Tinkoff-Saxo, Team Cannondale, Team Katusha, Team Garmin-Sharp-POC and Team Omega Pharma-QuickStep.
The final stage of the Tour de France always begins with a procession before the racing gets underway when the peloton reaches the streets of Paris.
As soon as the peloton reached the finishing circuits around the Champs Élysées the attacks started, including bids from riders such as Jens Voigt, Michael Mørkøv and Richie Porte.
The sprinter teams, including Team Giant-Shimano, however had their sights set on the stage victory. Team Giant-Shimano delivered Kittel to the finish for a sprint and got into the pure sprint formation, though the team lost Cheng Ji to an unfortunate tumble.
However, the rest of the riders grouped around Marcel and kept him in position while helping keep the front of the race together. – RoadCycling.com
View the results here.
