The third and final UK stage of the 2014 Tour de France began in the world-famous university city of Cambridge with the streets lined with spectators as the riders raced towards the finish in London 155km down the road.
With no classified climbs it was a predictable stage with two riders breaking away early and being held out there by the peloton for most of the day before being reeled in.
In the end it was Marcel Kittel who took the bunch sprint with relative ease to win his second stage of this Tour.
You can read the full stage report and see the race results of the 2014 Tour de France stage 3 here.
Enjoy the photos!
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- Vincenzo Nibali in yellow and teammate Michele Scarponi at the start.
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- Defending champion Chris Froome signs autographs at the start in Cambridge.
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- Defending champion Chris Froome beside overall contender and current race leader Vincenzo Nibali.
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- Massive crowds in Cambridge to send the riders off.
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- No sooner had the flag been waved for the start of the race than newly crowned Czech TT champion Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura) and Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne-Seche Environments) establish a breakaway with a maximum of 4:30.
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- Jan Bakelants takes a tumble while grabbing a feedbag. It was the second crash of the day for the rider who rose to prominence with a win on stage 2 of last year’s Tour in Corsica.
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- When it came time for the final sprint on The Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace, no-one looked close to beating Kittel. Peter Sagan tucked himself into the German’s slipstream but made no attempt to come around as Kittel crossed the line with arms outstretched. The Cannondale rider took second place and further strengthened his lead in the points classification while Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s Mark Renshaw finished third after picking up the team’s sprinting duties in lieu of the injured Mark Cavendish.
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- Vincenzo Nibali retains the lead and goes into France on stage 4 wearing the yellow jersey
