PARIS, July 12 -- German rider Marcel Kittel on Wednesday recorded his fifth sprint victory in the 11th stage of the 2017 Tour de France, while the flat stage was not all about comfort with several nasty crashes ahead of challenge awaiting in the Pyrenees Mountains.
It meant that Kittel just lost once in the final sprint, and he has achieved back-to-back wins twice this year. A total of 14 stage wins extended his lead atop the all-time German riders list.
"It's incredible because even being at the top of your game, you're never sure to win. In those five bunch sprints I won, I never made a mistake," said Kittel.
After snatching 50 more points at the finish line, Kittel has led Australian Michael Matthews by 133 points for the sprinters green jersey.
"I'm speechless. Most importantly, I've got the legs and the mind for it at the moment," added the German sprinter.
Wednesday's 203.5km stage from Eymet to Pau provided some riders, including yellow jersey owner Christopher Froome, enough comfort before they addressed the challenge ahead. For others, however, the memory was not all sweet.
Dario Cataldo, teammate of general classification runner-up Fabio Aru in the Astana Pro Team, had to withdraw due to a broken wrist suffered in a crash midway through the stage.
Third-ranked Frenchman Romain Bardet hurt his knee slightly, before changing a bike and regrouping himself into the race for not losing time. Alberto Contador, the two-time winner, also went down twice.
Froome could maintain his 18-second advantage over Aru before Thursday's mountain stage that is expected to have more impact on the results. Bardet sat on third with 51 seconds adrift Froome.
"In stages like today and yesterday, it's difficult to say if I'm in the shape I want to or not because it's just about cruising in the bunch.
"Tomorrow, I'll know more in the mountains. I'm hoping to hit the last week in the best shape I've ever been," commented Froome.
Marco Marcato was the first man out of the 180 riders right after the gun, before he was soon rejoined by Maciej Bodnar and Frederik Backaert. The leading trio built a maximum advantage of 4 minutes and 44 seconds at 44km into the race.
With 30km remaining, the peloton has cut their deficit to 30 seconds. Bodnar went solo two kilometers later, but he finally got reeled into the final 300 meters.
Local rider Warren Barguil maintained the polka-dot jersey representing the "king of mountains". British promising Simon Yates had no clue of falling down on the best young rider honor. Team Sky sat comfortably with a lead of more than seven minutes on overall team standings.
Starting in Pau, Thursday's 12th stage will finish in Peyragudes, and the 214.5km stage is set to be much tougher with one top-level HC climb and two first-category climbs.