Cycling: Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) celebrated his third stage win at the 2017 Tour de France. But it has never been as close as it is today. Even in the photo finish, there was initially no winner. Ultimately, Marcel Kittel relegated the surprisingly strong Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) to second place. With eleventh place, Arnaud Démare (FDJ) lost valuable points in the fight for the green jersey, which will be on Marcel Kittel's shoulders tomorrow.
Outliers without a chance today
Today's stage took the peloton from Troyes to Nuits-Saint-Georges over 213,5 kilometers. From the department of Aube, the journey was made to the Burgundy region. Just like yesterday sixth stage should there be a classic Sprint Royal today? First, however, four breakaways have hoped for a chance: Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Maxime Bouet (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Manuele Mori (UAE) and Yohann Gène (Direct Energie). However, the sprinter teams had no intention of missing out on the bunch sprint. In particular, the French team Cofidis participated in the tracking work for Captain Nacer Bouhanni, alongside Quick-Step Floors and FDJ.
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Photo finish between Marcel Kittel and Edvald Boasson Hagen
The quartet's maximum lead was less than four minutes. 40 kilometers from the finish, the gap had already shrunk to under a minute. As usual, the peloton let the fugitives starve at the outstretched arm. Six kilometers later the cat and mouse game was over. The sprint was extremely fast due to the almost five-kilometer straight and the strong tailwind. Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) was driven perfectly into position by his colleagues. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) first held his nose into the wind. Edvald Boasson attracted Hagen (Dimension Data) to his right. But like yesterday, Marcel Kittel came forward again. The German passed the Norwegian in the photo finish. What a tight decision! Marcel Kittel has now clinched a total of twelve victories in the Tour de France - just as many as Erik Zabel.
Result of the 7th stage of the 2017 Tour de France
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Marcel Kittel | Germany | Quick Step Floors | 5:03:18 |
| 2. | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Norway | Dimension Data | st |
| 3. | Michael Matthews | Australia | Sunweb | st |
| 4. | Alexander Kristoff | Norway | Katusha Alpecin | st |
| 5. | John Degenkolb | Germany | Trek-Segafredo | st |
| 6. | Dylan Groenewegen | Netherlands | LottoNL Jumbo | st |
| 7. | Rüdiger Selig | Germany | Bora, hansgrohe | st |
| 8. | Bouhanni born | France | Cofidis | st |
| 9. | André Greipel | Germany | Lotto Soudal | st |
| 10. | Daniel McLay | Great Britain | Fortuneo Oscar | st |
Overall ranking of the 2017 Tour de France after 7 of 21 stages
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Chris Froome | Great Britain | Sky | 28:47:51 |
| 2. | Geraint Thomas | Great Britain | Sky | + 0: 12 |
| 3. | Fabio Arau | Italy | Astana | + 0: 14 |
| 4. | Daniel Martin | Ireland | Quick Step Floors | + 0: 25 |
| 5. | Richie porte | Australia | BMC | + 0: 39 |
| 6. | Simon yates | Great Britain | Orica Scott | + 0: 43 |
| 7. | Romain Bardet | France | Ag2r | + 0: 47 |
| 8. | Alberto counter | Spain | Trek-Segafredo | + 0: 52 |
| 9. | Nairo Quintana | Colombia | Movistar | + 0: 54 |
| 10. | Rafal Mayka | Poland | Bora, hansgrohe | + 1: 01 |