Kittel wins photo finish for TDF hat-trick

Nuits-Saint-Georges - Marcel Kittel pipped Edvald Boasson Hagen by the tiniest of margins in a photo finish to the Tour de France seventh stage on Friday.

To the naked eye, and even television pictures, it seemed impossible to separate the pair as they crossed the line in Nuits Saint-Georges.

But after a nervous wait and several inclusive views of the finish line battle, Quick-Step's Kittel was awarded his third stage win of the year and 12th in total, matching the record for a German held by Erik Zabel.

It was the second year in a row that Kittel had won a stage in a photo finish having edged out Frenchman Bryan Coquard 12 months ago.

"It was so close, like last year with Bryan Coquard," he said.

"When there's a photo finish you always have doubts and there again it really was so close."

Kittel added: "Edvald was aggressive, I haven't seen him that strong for a long time."

And Kittel also wrenched the green jersey, which he held for two days earlier in the Tour, back from Arnaud Demare, who could manage only 11th.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Norwegian Boasson Hagen who looked all set for victory until a late charge by the irrepressible Kittel, already winner of the second and sixth stages, although far more convincingly.

Boasson Hagen took defeat on the chin with grace.

"It's a pity I couldn't finish it off. I was so close," he said.

Australian Michael Matthews finished third as reigning champion Chris Froome maintained his overall lead at the end of the 213.5km stage from Troyes on another day of minimal drama, until the controversial finish.

A four-man breakaway had gone clear in the opening part of the stage but they were always doomed to failure and caught 6km from the finish.

For the overall contenders it was another day to simply stay out of trouble before the weekend's back-to-back mountain stages when the yellow jersey battle will return to centre stage.

"Tomorrow is already a very tough stage but I think Sunday will make the difference for the overall standings," said Froome.

"Tomorrow already we're going up quite a big climb with 20-25 kilometres to go, it could shake things up a bit but the bigger obstacle to come is on Sunday as we go into the Jura mountains and tackle Mont du Chat before the finish."

Froome's Sky team-mate and British compatriot Geraint Thomas remains second at 12sec with Italian Fabio Aru, the winner of Wednesday's fifth stage, third at 14sec.

In the meantime, the top sprinters will have two days to lick their wounds and try to conjure up a way to stop Kittel.

Results from the seventh stage of the Tour de France, a 213.5km ride from Troyes et Nuits-Saint-Georges on Friday:

1. Marcel Kittel (GER/QST) 5hr 03min 18sec(average: 42.2 km/h)

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

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

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

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

6. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/LNL) 0:00.

7. Rüdiger Selig (GER/BOR) 0:00.

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

9. André Greipel (GER/LOT) 0:00.

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

11. Arnaud Démare (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

23. Jürgen Roelandts (BEL/LOT) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

35. Richie Porte (AUS/BMC) 0:00.

36. Jasha Sütterlin (GER/MOV) 0:00.

37. Florian Sénéchal (FRA/COF) 0:00.

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

39. Luke Rowe (GBR/SKY) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

45. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

50. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/AST) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

60. Andrew Talansky (USA/CAN) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

69. Rafal Majka (POL/BOR) 0:00.

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

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

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

73. Laurent Pichon (FRA/TFO) 0:00.

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

75. Stefan Kung (SUI/BMC) 0:00.

76. Marco Marcato (ITA/EAU) 0:00.

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

78. Alberto Bettiol (ITA/CAN) 0:00.

79. Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA/FDJ) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

84. Michael Gogl (AUT/TRE) 0:00.

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

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

87. Amaël Moinard (FRA/BMC) 0:00.

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

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

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

91. Simon Clarke (AUS/CAN) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

97. Eduardo Sepulveda (ARG/TFO) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

103. Laurens ten Dam (NED/SUN) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

108. Tim Wellens (BEL/LOT) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

117. Kristijan Ðurasek (CRO/EAU) 0:00.

118. Michael Schär (SUI/BMC) 0:00.

119. Ramon Sinkeldam (NED/SUN) 0:00.

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

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

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

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

124. Julien Simon (FRA/COF) 0:00.

125. Nikias Arndt (GER/SUN) 0:19.

126. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:20.

127. Perrig Quémeneur (FRA/DEN) 0:20.

128. Scott Thwaites (GBR/DDT) 0:20.

129. Matteo Trentin (ITA/QST) 0:20.

130. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/QST) 0:20.

131. Vegard Laengen (NOR/EAU) 0:20.

132. Zdenek Štybar (CZE/QST) 0:20.

133. Marco Haller (AUT/KAT) 0:25.

134. Dimitri Claeys (BEL/COF) 0:28.

135. Florian Vachon (FRA/TFO) 0:28.

136. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 0:28.

137. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/DDT) 0:28.

138. Borut Bozic (SLO/BAH) 0:32.

139. Tony Martin (GER/KAT) 0:36.

140. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 0:36.

141. Paul Martens (GER/LNL) 0:36.

142. Javier Moreno (ESP/BAH) 0:36.

143. Elie Gesbert (FRA/TFO) 0:36.

144. Fabio Felline (ITA/TRE) 0:36.

145. Mark Renshaw (AUS/DDT) 0:44.

146. Michael Albasini (SUI/ORI) 0:52.

147. Mickaël Delage (FRA/FDJ) 0:52.

148. Mike Teunissen (NED/SUN) 0:52.

149. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ/AST) 0:52.

150. Timo Roosen (NED/LNL) 0:58.

151. Tom Leezer (NED/LNL) 1:00.

152. Stephen Cummings (GBR/DDT) 1:12.

153. Roy Curvers (NED/SUN) 1:14.

154. Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP/MOV) 1:20.

155. Reto Hollenstein (SUI/KAT) 1:20.

156. Olivier Le Gac (FRA/FDJ) 1:23.

157. Albert Timmer (NED/SUN) 1:30.

158. Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU/FDJ) 1:36.

159. Davide Cimolai (ITA/FDJ) 1:36.

160. Jaco Venter (RSA/DDT) 1:41.

161. Manuele Mori (ITA/EAU) 1:41.

162. Maxime Bouet (FRA/TFO) 1:41.

163. Simon Geschke (GER/SUN) 1:41.

164. Darwin Atapuma (COL/EAU) 1:41.

165. Thomas Boudat (FRA/DEN) 1:47.

166. Luis Angel Maté (ESP/COF) 1:52.

167. Pierre-Luc Périchon (FRA/TFO) 2:01.

168. Robert Wagner (GER/LNL) 2:01.

169. Thomas De Gendt (BEL/LOT) 2:01.

170. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 2:01.

171. Damien Howson (AUS/ORI) 2:01.

172. Romain Sicard (FRA/DEN) 2:01.

173. Robert Gesink (NED/LNL) 2:01.

174. Daniel Navarro (ESP/COF) 2:01.

175. Taylor Phinney (USA/CAN) 2:01.

176. Jarlinson Pantano (COL/TRE) 2:01.

177. Tsgabu Grmay (ETH/BAH) 2:01.

178. Dario Cataldo (ITA/AST) 2:01.

179. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/SKY) 2:01.

180. Ondrej Cink (CZE/BAH) 2:01.

181. Primož Roglic (SLO/LNL) 2:01.

182. Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (KAZ/AST) 2:01.

183. Dylan van Baarle (NED/CAN) 2:01.

184. Jesus Herrada (ESP/MOV) 2:01.

185. Pierre Rolland (FRA/CAN) 2:01.

186. Juraj Sagan (SVK/BOR) 2:01.

187. Frederik Backaert (BEL/AJW) 2:19.

188. Yohann Gène (FRA/DEN) 2:19.

189. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/DEN) 2:19.

190. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/BMC) 3:28.

191. Jos van Emden (NED/LNL) 3:33.

192. Gianluca Brambilla (ITA/QST) 4:15.

193. Julien Vermote (BEL/QST) 4:15.