The battle of the Tour de France sprinters continued Tuesday in Limoges, and this time it was German Marcel Kittel registering the stage win, taking a photo-finish victory ahead of France’s Bryan Coquard.
The narrow victory for Kittel was his first since July 27, 2014, on the Champs Elysees in Paris, as he missed last year’s race. The win brings his total of Tour stage wins to nine.
“I felt super proud, and so happy,” Kittel said. “After missing out on the Tour last year, changing teams… the expectations were very high. We came with the goal to win on the first stage but we missed out on the yellow jersey. We were disappointed, but the team remained focused. I felt the pressure, that also explains the emotion.”
Read the full stage 4 race report, highlight video and results here.
Photography by BrakeThrough Media, Jered & Ashley Gruber, Cor Vos
This article was originally published on cyclingtips.com
