Kittel beats Cavendish on the line

“I can go back and look at it over again,he was just faster,” Cavendish told reporters.

“I don’t think myself or the team could have done anything different. He was just simply better,you know? The guys were really really incredible for me today. It was a good duel between Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Argos and ultimately the guys went at the right time. They delivered me at the right time. I was just beaten by a better guy,” added the Manxman.

Slovakia’s Peter Sagan took third place at the end of the 218-km flat dash from Fougeres. He leads the points classification with 307 and Cavendish moved up to second on 211.

The top positions in the overall standings remained unchanged with Froome leading Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by 3:25 and Dutchman Bauke Mollema by 3:37. Fourth-placed Alberto Contador of Spain is 3:54 off the pace.

SHOULDER FRACTURE

Froome’s team mate Edvald Boasson Hagen was one of those affected and the Norwegian was later forced to pull out of the race with a shoulder fracture. “Edvald Boasson Hagen has been forced to abandon the Tour de France following a fractured right scapula on stage 12,” Team Sky said in a statement.

“Fortunately this doesn’t require surgery but Edvald will return home to Norway for further investigation and treatment.”

It is the second time in this year’s race Kittel has beaten Cavendish in a sprint. Another specialist,German Andre Greipel,did not contest the finale having been held up behind the crash. Five men formed an early breakaway to open a nine-minute gap but the sprinters’ teams reeled them in with five kilometres left.