Five-star Kittel wins Tour de France 11th stage

Pau - Marcel Kittel continued to dominate the Tour de France sprint finishes, taking his fifth stage victory in Pau on Wednesday.

Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen took second with Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway third as Chris Froome retained the leader's yellow jersey.

But there was agony for Poland's Maciej Bodnar who spent more than 200km in a breakaway, only to be caught with 300-metres to ride.

Once he was caught, though, there was a certain inevitability about Kittel's victory, his 14th overall at the Tour.

The Quick-Step rider positioned himself around the top dozen riders into the final kilometre and then started to move up in the last few hundred metres, saving his last acceleration for the moment he needed to burn off the last two riders in front of him, Boasson Hagen and Australian Michael Matthews.

Groenewegen tried to stick to Kittel's rear wheel throughout the sprint in the hope of getting a tow to the line, but he didn't have the power to overhaul the burly German.

In each of the last five years one rider has been dominant in sprint finishes, with Briton Mark Cavendish taking four stage wins last year and German Andre Greipel matching that the year before.

The two years previous to that, Kittel had been the top fast man, winning four stages in each of 2013 and 2014.

But he seems to be better than ever this year, and with Cavendish, world champion Peter Sagan and French winner of the fourth stage Arnaud Demare all out of the race, Kittel seems to have no competition left.

With at least three more possible sprint finishes to come in the race, Kittel could yet match the record of eight stage wins form a single Tour.

The 203.5km stage from Eymet, a little town in the Dordogne known for its large British population, to Pau saw three riders take off from the gun, with Marco Marcato and Frederik Backaert joining Bodnar.

They had a maximum lead of four and a half minutes but that was down to 30 seconds when Bodnar set off alone with 28km left.

He stretched out his lead to 50 seconds but the peloton always had him under control and even though he made it into the final kilometre, he never genuinely looked likely to succeed.

For the overall contenders it was a second successive day of tranquility in the peloton ahead of the next two Pyrenean stages where the yellow jersey battle will surely rage.

Results from stage 11 of the Tour de France, a 203.5km run from Eymet to Pau on Wednesday:

1. Marcel Kittel (GER/QST) 4hrs 34min 27sec

2. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/LNL) at 0:00.

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/DDT) 0:00.

4. Michael Matthews (AUS/SUN) 0:00.

5. Daniel McLay (GBR/TFO) 0:00.

6. Davide Cimolai (ITA/FDJ) 0:00.

7. Andr Greipel (GER/LOT) 0:00.

8. Nacer Bouhanni (FRA/COF) 0:00.

9. Ben Swift (GBR/EAU) 0:00.

10. Danilo Wyss (SUI/BMC) 0:00.

11. Pieter Vanspeybrouck (BEL/AJW) 0:00.

12. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 0:00.

13. Florian Vachon (FRA/TFO) 0:00.

14. Dion Smith (NZL/AJW) 0:00.

15. Damiano Caruso (ITA/BMC) 0:00.

16. Rdiger Selig (GER/BOR) 0:00.

17. Andrea Pasqualon (ITA/AJW) 0:00.

18. Thomas Boudat (FRA/DEN) 0:00.

19. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/DEN) 0:00.

20. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (BEL/AJW) 0:00.

21. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/QST) 0:00.

22. Taylor Phinney (USA/CAN) 0:00.

23. Yoann Offredo (FRA/AJW) 0:00.

24. Christophe Laporte (FRA/COF) 0:00.

25. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/SKY) 0:00.

26. Koen de Kort (NED/TRE) 0:00.

27. Christopher Froome (GBR/SKY) 0:00.

28. Esteban Chaves (COL/ORI) 0:00.

29. Jens Keukeleire (BEL/ORI) 0:00.

30. Daniel Martin (EIR/QST) 0:00.

31. Rick Zabel (GER/KAT) 0:00.

32. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 0:00.

33. Simon Yates (GBR/ORI) 0:00.

34. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) 0:00.

35. Lilian Calmejane (FRA/DEN) 0:00.

36. Daniele Bennati (ITA/MOV) 0:00.

37. Emanuel Buchmann (GER/BOR) 0:00.

38. Mathew Hayman (AUS/ORI) 0:00.

39. George Bennett (NZL/LNL) 0:00.

40. Matteo Bono (ITA/EAU) 0:00.

41. Cyril Gautier (FRA/ALM) 0:00.

42. Jay McCarthy (AUS/BOR) 0:00.

43. Sonny Colbrelli (ITA/BAH) 0:00.

44. Oliver Naesen (BEL/ALM) 0:00.

45. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 0:00.

46. Timo Roosen (NED/LNL) 0:00.

47. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:00.

48. Tony Gallopin (FRA/LOT) 0:00.

49. Rigoberto Uran (COL/CAN) 0:00.

50. Louis Meintjes (RSA/EAU) 0:00.

51. Pierre Latour (FRA/ALM) 0:00.

52. Sergio Henao (COL/SKY) 0:00.

53. Brice Feillu (FRA/TFO) 0:00.

54. Maciej Bodnar (POL/BOR) 0:00.

55. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/SKY) 0:00.

56. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/ORI) 0:00.

57. Mikel Landa (ESP/SKY) 0:00.

58. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 0:00.

59. Carlos Betancur (COL/MOV) 0:00.

60. Andrey Zeits (KAZ/AST) 0:00.

61. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/BAH) 0:00.

62. Jasha Stterlin (GER/MOV) 0:00.

63. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/BAH) 0:00.

64. Warren Barguil (FRA/SUN) 0:00.

65. Marco Minnaard (NED/AJW) 0:00.

66. Guillaume Martin (FRA/AJW) 0:00.

67. Jan Bakelants (BEL/ALM) 0:00.

68. Thomas Degand (BEL/AJW) 0:00.

69. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LOT) 0:00.

70. Luis Angel Mat (ESP/COF) 0:00.

71. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) 0:00.

72. Fabio Felline (ITA/TRE) 0:00.

73. Diego Ulissi (ITA/EAU) 0:00.

74. Angelo Tulik (FRA/DEN) 0:00.

75. Pawel Poljanski (POL/BOR) 0:00.

76. Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA/DDT) 0:00.

77. Jarlinson Pantano (COL/TRE) 0:00.

78. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 0:00.

79. Nils Politt (GER/KAT) 0:00.

80. Michael Valgren (DEN/AST) 0:00.

81. Bauke Mollema (NED/TRE) 0:00.

82. John Degenkolb (GER/TRE) 0:00.

83. Tiesj Benoot (BEL/LOT) 0:00.

84. Markel Irizar (ESP/TRE) 0:00.

85. Pierre-Luc Prichon (FRA/TFO) 0:00.

86. Mathias Frank (SUI/ALM) 0:00.

87. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/TRE) 0:00.

88. Kristijan urasek (CRO/EAU) 0:00.

89. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ/AST) 0:00.

90. Reto Hollenstein (SUI/KAT) 0:00.

91. Michael Albasini (SUI/ORI) 0:00.

92. Nicolas Roche (IRL/BMC) 0:00.

93. Maurits Lammertink (NED/KAT) 0:00.

94. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 0:00.

95. Tony Martin (GER/KAT) 0:00.

96. Nathan Brown (USA/CAN) 0:00.

97. Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP/MOV) 0:00.

98. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 0:00.

99. Andrey Amador (CRC/MOV) 0:00.

100. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 0:00.

101. Romain Hardy (FRA/TFO) 0:00.

102. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 0:00.

103. Serge Pauwels (BEL/DDT) 0:00.

104. Rudy Molard (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.

105. Daryl Impey (RSA/ORI) 0:00.

106. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.

107. Ondrej Cink (CZE/BAH) 0:00.

108. Patrick Bevin (NZL/CAN) 0:00.

109. Maxime Bouet (FRA/TFO) 0:00.

110. Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA/ALM) 0:00.

111. Roy Curvers (NED/SUN) 0:00.

112. Daniel Navarro (ESP/COF) 0:00.

113. Marco Haller (AUT/KAT) 0:00.

114. Olivier Le Gac (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.

115. Adam Hansen (AUS/LOT) 0:00.

116. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LOT) 0:00.

117. Borut Bozic (SLO/BAH) 0:00.

118. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 0:00.

119. Tiago Machado (POR/KAT) 0:00.

120. Lars Bak (DEN/LOT) 0:00.

121. Axel Domont (FRA/ALM) 0:00.

122. Jack Bauer (NZL/QST) 0:00.

123. Yohann Gne (FRA/DEN) 0:00.

124. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/KAT) 0:00.

125. Tsgabu Grmay (ETH/BAH) 0:00.

126. Darwin Atapuma (COL/EAU) 0:00.

127. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BOR) 0:00.

128. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 0:00.

129. Damien Howson (AUS/ORI) 0:00.

130. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.

131. Simon Geschke (GER/SUN) 0:00.

132. Stephen Cummings (GBR/DDT) 0:00.

133. Grega Bole (SLO/BAH) 0:00.

134. Primoz Roglic (SLO/LNL) 0:00.

135. Adrien Petit (FRA/DEN) 0:00.

136. Romain Sicard (FRA/DEN) 0:35sec

137. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/QST) 0:37.

138. Elie Gesbert (FRA/TFO) 0:38.

139. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 0:47.

140. Ramon Sinkeldam (NED/SUN) 1:07.

141. Nikias Arndt (GER/SUN) 1:07.

142. Zdenek Stybar (CZE/QST) 1:10.

143. Florian Snchal (FRA/COF) 1:10.

144. Dimitri Claeys (BEL/COF) 1:10.

145. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 1:10.

146. Andrew Talansky (USA/CAN) 1:10.

147. Tom Leezer (NED/LNL) 1:10.

148. Paul Martens (GER/LNL) 1:14.

149. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/DDT) 1:22.

150. Stefan Kung (SUI/BMC) 1:26.

151. Frederik Backaert (BEL/AJW) 1:26.

152. Perrig Qumeneur (FRA/DEN) 1:26.

153. Gianluca Brambilla (ITA/QST) 1:26.

154. Luke Rowe (GBR/SKY) 1:26.

155. Scott Thwaites (GBR/DDT) 1:26.

156. Eduardo Sepulveda (ARG/TFO) 1:26.

157. Pierre Rolland (FRA/CAN) 1:26.

158. Javier Moreno (ESP/BAH) 1:26.

159. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/BMC) 1:37.

160. Thomas De Gendt (BEL/LOT) 2:06.

161. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/DEN) 2:06.

162. Laurent Pichon (FRA/TFO) 2:06.

163. Robert Wagner (GER/LNL) 2:06.

164. Julien Simon (FRA/COF) 2:06.

165. Jesus Herrada (ESP/MOV) 2:06.

166. Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (KAZ/AST) 2:20.

167. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/AST) 2:20.

168. Marco Marcato (ITA/EAU) 2:20.

169. Vegard Laengen (NOR/EAU) 2:20.

170. Jaco Venter (RSA/DDT) 2:20.

171. Dylan van Baarle (NED/CAN) 2:20.

172. Mike Teunissen (NED/SUN) 2:20.

173. Albert Timmer (NED/SUN) 2:20.

174. Alberto Bettiol (ITA/CAN) 2:20.

175. Simon Clarke (AUS/CAN) 2:20.

176. Laurens ten Dam (NED/SUN) 2:20.

177. Julien Vermote (BEL/QST) 3:44.

178. Michael Gogl (AUT/TRE) 4:16.

179. Tim Wellens (BEL/LOT) 6:04.

Abandoned: Dario Cataldo (ITA/AST)