German Marcel Kittel beat out countryman Andre Greipel in Tuesday's Stage 10 of the Tour de France in a thrilling sprint towards the finish line that saw Mark Cavendish collide with another rider in the mad dash to end.
Kittel, who won the opening stage of the centennial Tour de France, becomes the first rider in this year's event to win multiple stages.
"Things went very well with my team today," said Kittel. "I managed to get on Greipel's wheel and overtake him."
Cavendish, aiming for his 25th career Tour stage victory - tying him Frenchman Andre Leducq on the all-time list, looked prime to overtake Greipel and Kittel when the Cavendish nudged the Netherlands' Tom Veelers off his bike as the pack sped up towards the finish line.
"I touched him. The road was bearing left," Cavendish said. "Yeah, it was my fault."
Chris Froome, who managed to stay out of the late-race collision, retained the yellow jersey, staying ahead of second-place Alejandro Valverde. Two-time champion Alberto Contador is third going into Stage 11's time trial.
"That's everyone's worst nightmare," said Froome of the late-race collision. "Fortunately I was to the side of that crash and went around it no problem. I'm feeling really good. Today was a great day for us, staying out of trouble, staying at the front. That was one of the objectives today, save the legs as much as possible."
Froome believes that he can extend his lead over Valverde and Contador on Wednesday, a 20.5-mile time trial from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy.
"Tomorrow's definitely a day where I will try and extend my lead," said Froome. "I do look forward to it. It's definitely a day that could help the general classification. I definitely want to go for it."
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