Tour de France: Marcel Kittel wins stage seven after photo-finish

Summary

Marcel Kittel wins photo finish
GB's Chris Froome in leader's yellow jersey
Stage seven: Troyes - Nuits-Saint-Georges, 213.5km
BBC Radio 5 live commentary - online only

Live Reporting

Peter Scrivener

Who has the power?published at 12:40 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
A great graphic from our friends at Letourdata shows just how much effort goes into the sprint finish.
Arnaud Demare may have reached the top speed, at 75 km/h, but Marcel Kittel timed his run slightly better, while Andre Greipel never really got a look in.
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Out on the roadpublished at 12:31 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
With 165km remaining in today's stage, the quartet in the break are two minutes 50 seconds clear of the peloton.
It's very much as you were.
Matthews to win green?published at 12:28 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Image source, Getty Images
The other interesting name on the leaderboard is Australia's Michael Matthews. The Team Sunweb leader is a bit of a Peter Sagan-type rider in that he can sprint and he can climb.
He won't win any straight-up sprints against the big boys but he'll keep picking up points and will then hope to take advantage on slightly hillier stages - although the high mountains will be a climb too far.
If he can keep in the mix, stages 11, 14 and 19 might see him pick up big points.
Is Froome a Tour legend?published at 12:27 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Opinion already divided #bbccycling
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Kittel dominantpublished at 12:25 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
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Demare the man to beat?published at 12:20 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Image source, Getty Images
French national champion Arnaud Demare is in the green jersey but it may change hands today.
Today's intermediate sprint offers 20 points to the first over the line. The four in the breakaway will hoover up the big points but expect a bit of a battle in the peloton for the minor places.
The big points come in Niuts-Saint-Georges, with 50 for first and 30 for second, with the first 15 picking up points.
Marcel Kittel has won two stages already. Demare one.
And don't count out Andre Greipel. The big German has won 11 Tour stages and at least one on each of his six previous Tour appearances.
Top 10 in points classificationpublished at 12:15 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
1. Arnaud Demare (Fra/FDJ) 170
2. Marcel Kittel (Ger/Quick-Step) 143
3. Michael Matthews (Aus/Sunweb) 96
4. Andre Greipel (Ger/Lotto) 93
5. Alexander Kristoff (Nor/Katusha) 74
6. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita/Bahrain) 49
7. Daniel Martin (Ire/Quick-Step) 47
8. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra/Cofidis) 44
9. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 41
10. Ben Swift (GB/UAE Team Emirates) 39
The race for greenpublished at 12:10 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
The beauty of the Tour de France is the myriad of sub-plots going on.
With the yellow jersey and overall race winners taking a back seat, the green points jersey is the big focus of today's stage.
World champion Peter Sagan has been the dominant force for the last five years and was favourite to win a joint record sixth, alongside Erik Zabel. But then he went and got tangled up with Mark Cavendish, the winner in 2011.
So who is in the hunt?
Whose stats to believe?published at 11:59 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Hi Bob - got my stats from Le Tour website yesterday and they have revised them slightly today: Eddy Merckx (111 stages and 97 days in yellow from 1969 to 1975).
And hands up, I clean missed out Mr Hinault...Bernard Hinault (79 stages and 77 days in yellow from 1978 to 1986).
BeSpoke from a champagne cavepublished at 11:51 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
So while the race meanders through beautiful Burgundy, can I direct you towards last night's BeSpoke podcast..
After a hot day in the sun, where better for OJ Borg, Simon Brotherton and Rob Hayles to discuss what happened on stage six?
The trio found a cool cave and were surrounded by 150,000 bottles of the fizzy stuff as they talked through Marcel Kittel's second win of this year's Tour.
Media caption,
Watch OJ Borg, Simon Brotherton and Rob Hayles review Stage 6 of the Tour de France 2017.
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Peloton stabilises breakpublished at 11:49 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Image source, Getty Images
The quartet out front have been allowed to move three minutes, 45 seconds clear as they pedal through the village of Essoyes. But that's as big as it will get today.
The familiar sight of one FDJ rider, one Quick-Step Floors rider and one Lotto-Soudal rider are on the front of the peloton.
As always on a sprint stage, they are up there to do the donkey work, keeping tabs on the break to hopefully set up their sprinter for victory in 195km or so.
Is Froome joining the legends?published at 11:44 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Three-time Tour winner Chris Froome is chalking up his 46th day in the yellow jersey today.
Only three men have worn the yellow jersey more times, and they are all five-time winners of the race.
Frenchman Jacques Anquetil spent 50 days in yellow between 1957 and 1964.
Spain's Miguel Indurain had 60 days in yellow, in the 1990s while Belgian legend Eddy Merckx leads the way with 111 days in the maillot jaune in the 1960s and 70s.
"That's a pretty cool feeling," said Froome. "Not many riders have been in this position before me and an it's an honour to be up with those guys."
Does Chris Froome need this fourth Tour win to be considered one of the legends of the race? Or has he already achieved that? #bbccycling for your thoughts
Image source, Getty Images
Sky keeping it simplepublished at 11:33 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
No prizes for guessing what Team Sky's tactics will be today. Don't expect to see, or hear much about the man in the lead today.
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The men in the break...published at 11:30 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Maxime Bouet of the Fortuneo-Vital Concept team, Dylan van Baarle of Cannondal-Drapac, UAE Emirates' Manuele Mori and Direct Energie's Yohann Gene.
The peloton had no interest in chasing that down and in just four kilometres, the quartet has gone two minutes clear.
Four immediately in the breakpublished at 11:26 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
There is an immediate attack off the front. Four riders have gone clear and that, my dear readers, is that.
One Direct Energie rider and one from Cannondale-Drapac defnitely in there.
Several riders at the back of the peloton are like meercats, popping their heads up to see who's gone clear.
Will crosswinds spice it up?published at 11:23 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
I've been told it's a bit fresher out there today, which is good news for the riders.
What's not so good is the threat of crosswinds. The forecast is for the wind to blow in from the west and that could have big ramifications.
We'll get it into all that later because here comes the familiar sight of race director Christian Prudhomme, appearing out of his sunroof, first with his flapping arms trying to get the riders to slow down a little and then with his little white flag to get today's stage under way.
Just the 213.5km to go...
Image source, Tour de France
Groundhog day?published at 11:18 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
Hello and welcome to stage seven of the 2017 Tour de France.
Another flat day means another day for the sprinters as the race travels south-east through the Champagne region into Burgundy.
It's the fifth stage of more than 200km, so the riders will certainly be feeling it in the legs.
Who will have the power to win? Let's find out...
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Froome's relaxing day outpublished at 11:15 British Summer Time 7 July 2017
"These stages don't come along very often," said defending champion and Tour de France race leader Chris Froome after stage six.
A bunch sprint finish in Troyes was won by Germany's Marcel Kittel on a day of little drama for Froome and his rivals for the overall victory.
The Briton, who is chasing a third successive win and fourth in five years, told BBC Sport: "This was definitely one of the most relaxed days I've ever done on the Tour de France."
Image source, BBC Sport