Mark Cavendish waited on the wheel of Marcel Kittel in the final 200 meters of stage 14 of the 2016 Tour de France before coming around and taking the lead and his fourth stage win of this year’s race.
Tour de France 2016: Mark Cavendish wins stage 14, his fourth win of the race
Cavendish’s victory is his 30th Tour de France stage victory of his career.
The victory marks Cavendish’s 30th stage win of his career and his best first week of the Tour De France of his career. Besides the victory on stage 14, he has also won stages one, four and six.
As Cavendish passed Kittel on his left, Cavendish swerved to the right in the final moments. Kittel, visibly aggravated, threw his hand up in the air in protest of the swerve as he crossed the line in fifth place. Finishing second was Alexander Kristoff, while Peter Sagan was third and John Degenkolb was fourth.
Despite Kittel’s protest, the race jury reviewed the images and confirmed Cavendish’s victory.
As Cavendish crossed the line, he held up four fingers, indicating the number of stage victories he has captured in this race.
Just now: @MarkCavendish: Kittel "just frustrated I've won four." #TDF2016 pic.twitter.com/Slw3C6x3yf
— Daniel McMahon (@cyclingreporter) July 16, 2016
The race had a slow start, some due to headwinds and some for a minute of silence prior to the start of the stage in honor of the victims of the Nice terrorist attack.
Martin Elmiger, Cesare Benedetti, Jérémy Roy and Alex Howes managed to build a lead ahead of the other racers, but were caught in the final three kilometers of the race.
Chris Froome retained the yellow jersey and the overall lead in the Tour de France as the general classification remained the same after the uneventful day.
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