Giant-Shimano's Marcel Kittel won a close-fought sprint to take stage 4 of the Tour de France from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille. The German managed to ease out Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr) to seal his third stage victory of the race, while race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) enjoyed another relatively quiet day in the saddle.

Defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) had no such luck, crashing near the start of the stage and sustaining a number of cuts and abrasions. He rode the rest of the race with his left wrist in a harness and will undergo medical evaluations after the stage.

Kittel had no such problems, stepping onto the podium for the third of four stages. He’s only one stage away from equalling his haul of four stage wins from last year and despite a difficult run-in into Lille, his raw speed was enough to take the victory again. Even when Kristoff had a slight gap inside the closing 200 meters, Kittel refused to panic, coming off of Omega Pharma-QuickStep sprinter Mark Renshaw’s wheel before scooping up Kristoff and crossing the line first.