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The Tour de France got exactly the finish it had hoped for. The three big name sprinters André Greipel, Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish went head to head in the final sprint in a fight to determine who is the greatest. Kittel was lead out in front and powered to a commanding win with his two competitors desperately trying to come out of his slipstream to overtake him in the final meters but without success.
This gave Kittel his fourth stagewin of the Tour and he and his Argos team are the big winners in the sprint battle this year, Cavendish got two wins and Greipel one and the young German Kittel now looks like a future dominant of the sprints. The style in which Kittel won was very similar to how Cavendish has done it in past years with his team winning the leadout fight to let him hit the finishing straight in front of his competitors. Having clearly the best legs in this race he then used his superior power to finish with quite a comfortable margin. After a few dominant performances by Cavendish this was perhaps the best sprint, or most competitive, sprint we've seen on the Champs Élysées in many years.
The late night racing on the Champs Élysées provided a stunning backdrop to Chris Froome's Tour de France victory and he finished the race safely behind the sprinters with the entire Sky team crossing the line shoulder to shoulder celebrating their second consecutive win in the biggest bikerace in the world.
Stage result:
| 1. | GERKITTEL Marcel | 197 | TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO | 03h 06' 14'' | |
| 2. | GERGREIPEL André | 24 | LOTTO-BELISOL | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 3. | GBRCAVENDISH Mark | 151 | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 4. | SVKSAGAN Peter | 11 | CANNONDALE | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 5. | ITAFERRARI Roberto | 145 | LAMPRE - MERIDA | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 6. | NORKRISTOFF Alexander | 103 | KATUSHA TEAM | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 7. | FRAREZA Kévin | 57 | TEAM EUROPCAR | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 8. | FRAGENE Yohann | 55 | TEAM EUROPCAR | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 9. | ITABENNATI Daniele | 92 | TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
| 10. | BRAFISCHER Murilo Antoniobil | 75 | FDJ.FR | 03h 06' 14'' | + 00' 00'' |
Final General Classification:
| 1. | GBRFROOME Christopher | 1 | SKY PROCYCLING | 83h 56' 40'' | |
| 2. | COLQUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander | 128 | MOVISTAR TEAM | 84h 01' 00'' | + 04' 20'' |
| 3. | ESPRODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin | 101 | KATUSHA TEAM | 84h 01' 44'' | + 05' 04'' |
| 4. | ESPCONTADOR Alberto | 91 | TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF | 84h 03' 07'' | + 06' 27'' |
| 5. | CZEKREUZIGER Roman | 94 | TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF | 84h 04' 07'' | + 07' 27'' |
| 6. | NEDMOLLEMA Bauke | 164 | BELKIN PRO CYCLING | 84h 08' 22'' | + 11' 42'' |
| 7. | DENFUGLSANG Jakob | 63 | ASTANA PRO TEAM | 84h 08' 57'' | + 12' 17'' |
| 8. | ESPVALVERDE Alejandro | 121 | MOVISTAR TEAM | 84h 12' 06'' | + 15' 26'' |
| 9. | ESPNAVARRO Daniel | 139 | COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS | 84h 12' 32'' | + 15' 52'' |
| 10. | USATALANSKY Andrew | 178 | GARMIN - SHARP | 84h 14' 19'' | + 17' 39'' |
Points Competition:
| 1. | SVKSAGAN Peter | 11 | CANNONDALE | 409 pts |
| 2. | GBRCAVENDISH Mark | 151 | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP | 312 pts |
| 3. | GERGREIPEL André | 24 | LOTTO-BELISOL | 267 pts |
| 4. | GERKITTEL Marcel | 197 | TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO | 222 pts |
| 5. | NORKRISTOFF Alexander | 103 | KATUSHA TEAM | 177 pts |
Climbers Competition:
| 1. | COLQUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander | 128 | MOVISTAR TEAM | 147 pts |
| 2. | GBRFROOME Christopher | 1 | SKY PROCYCLING | 136 pts |
| 3. | FRAROLLAND Pierre | 51 | TEAM EUROPCAR | 117 pts |
| 4. | ESPRODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin | 101 | KATUSHA TEAM | 99 pts |
| 5. | FRARIBLON Christophe | 89 | AG2R LA MONDIALE | 98 pts |
Young Riders Competition:
| 1. | COLQUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander | 128 | MOVISTAR TEAM | 84h 01' 00'' | |
| 2. | USATALANSKY Andrew | 178 | GARMIN - SHARP | 84h 14' 19'' | + 13' 19'' |
| 3. | POLKWIATKOWSKI Michal | 153 | OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP | 84h 15' 39'' | + 14' 39'' |
| 4. | FRABARDET Romain | 82 | AG2R LA MONDIALE | 84h 23' 22'' | + 22' 22'' |
| 5. | NEDDUMOULIN Tom | 194 | TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO | 85h 31' 10'' | + 01h 30' |
All photos by Bryn Lennon/Doug Pensinger, Getty