German sprinter Marcel Kittel has proven his power once again on Friday as he won stage seven of the 2017 Tour de France, but it was not as easy at it sounds. The final sprint in Nuits-Saint-Georges produced a very close battle between Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen and Kittel and the race officials needed to study the photo-finish closely in order to establish the stage winner. Kittel came from behind to overtake Boasson Hagen, but when they crossed the line neither of the two riders knew who won the stage.
After a few minutes the race officials announced that Kittel beat Boasson Haggen by three millimeters, a minute difference after a stage that was over 200 kilometers long. General classification leader Chris Froome had a rather quiet day but his team still had to do some work in order to keep their captain out of trouble. "There was a lot of talk of crosswinds, so it was a bit of a nervous day and we wanted to be at the front all day in case something happened," said Froome. "The team kept me safe at the front and fortunately nothing happened. It was a good day to get ticked off."
Froome leads the general classification with a 12-second advantage over team-mate Geraint Thomas and a 14-second cushion over third-placed Fabio Aru. This weekend's stages will surely bring on some changes in the overall classification, starting with Saturday's stage from Dole to Station des Rousses, which features a first-category climb close to the finish. But that seems very easy compared to Sunday's stage, which will take the riders from Nantua to Chambery. Stage nine features no less than seven climbs and three of them are special-category ascents.
Chris Froome is still the favourite to win this year's Tour de France, he is 8/13 at Bet365 to win the race while Fabio Aru is 15/4.
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