MARCEL KITTEL GOT Germany’s sporting day off to the best possible start as he completed a hat-trick of stage wins at this year’s Tour de France.
Kittel got up on the line to deny Alexander Kristoff in a sprint finish, adding today’s 163-kilometre fourth stage from Le Touquet to Lille to his wins in England on Saturday and Monday.
The next challenge is to find a TV where he can watch Germany take on Brazil in the World Cup semi-finals tonight.
“It’s pretty late here, I hope it’s OK to watch it and have still enough sleep for the next stage but normally we will watch it all together,” he said.
Vincenzo Nibali still holds a two-second lead in the general classification, with yellow jersey rival Chris Froome recovering from an early crash to finish in the bunch.
Ireland’s Nicolas Roche finished 50th and remains 25th overall, 16 seconds behind Nibali.
– Additional reporting by AFP
