Three out of Four for Kittel

The stage 4 sprint: Germany’s Marcel Kittel (left), Slovakia’s Peter Sagan (center), and France’s Alexander Kristoff (right).

By a nose! Germany’s Marcel Kittel squeaked past a gaggle of sprinters and won today’s stage of the Tour de France, winning three out of four stages in this year’s race. Kittel admits it was one of the more difficult victories.

“Today we saw that we are not unbeatable and that we have to have a plan,” Kittel said.

Photo finish showing Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) just ahead of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and French champion Arnaud Demare (FDJ).

Super uber good sport Marcel Kittel gives Peter Sagan (Cannondale) a handshake for holding onto the green sprint leader’s jersey.

The back of Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) on the flat roads of Western France.

Chapeau to Thomas Voeckler who raced a good portion of the 101 miles from Le Touquet to Lille in a solo breakaway. The peloton caught Voeckler about eight miles from the finish line, but what a example of courage. The Frenchman would not surrender!

Andy Schleck (Trek) at the start of yesterday’s stage 3.

Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, one of the top contenders, did not start today’s stage following a fall yesterday where he hurt his knee.

“My knee is too damaged from the crash. This is a huge blow for me,” Schleck tweeted.

Italy’s Vicenzo Nibali (Astana) is still in the yellow leader’s jersey for a third day.

Tour Crosswinds: Sacré Bleu!

Thomas Voeckler wins Stage Five.

Those of us who live at the beach can appreciate the sea breeze, but Tour de France riders were cursing it today in Stage Five– 122 miles along the Mediterranean coast in Southern France. But the strong crosswinds worked in favor for Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, who started a breakaway in the first mile of the race and went on to win the stage. Voeckler had five other riders help him stay away from the peloton during the four and a half hours of racing. In the last three miles, Voeckler took off from his small break for a solo finish, shaking his head as he crossed the finish line in disbelief of his stage victory. You’d think because the Tour is in France that the French would dominate stage wins– but that isn’t so. Today, Voeckler proved otherwise. Trés bien.

–Le Tour Babe