The Tour de France rolled into Tours on Thursday and, just as most had expected, the rather flat course led to some excellent racing down the stretch. Marcel Kittel of Germany overtook Mark Cavendish over the last 200 meters and beat him by half of a tire for his third win in this year’s race.
Tour de France 2013 results, Stage 12: Marcel Kittel overtakes Mark Cavendish for 3rd victory
Marcel Kittel was able to overtake Mark Cavendish in the final meters of the race, giving the German his third stage victory of the Tour.
Doug Pensinger
Así se definió la etapa 12 del #TDF100 entre Kittel y Cavendish, Peter Sagan entró tercero pic.twitter.com/jEVwwWyjMM
— Carrillo180 (@Carrillo180) July 11, 2013
Cavendish actually passed Kittel late in the race, but the German cyclist stormed back with about 150 meters left in the race to just barely win this stage. Peter Sagan, Alexander Kristoff and Roberto Ferrari rounded out the top five racers to cross Stage 12’s finish line.
A massive pile-up occurred with three kilometers left in the race, caused by a Lotto-Belisol rider hitting into the curb as the riders made a shift to the right on the course. Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen was involved in the crash and finished the stage holding his collarbone. However, Team Sky coach Dave Brailsford said that he doesn’t believe the bone is broken.
Juan Antonio Flecha looked like he’d be Stage 12’s winner as he led the race for an astounding 206 kilometers and had a lead of 19 seconds when the group entered the final 10 kilometers. It was all for naught, however, as Flecha finished well behind the pack when all was said and done.
Christopher Froome still controls the yellow jersey as the overall leader after finishing in 14th place in the 12th stage.
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