Stage 4 Provides A Third Win For Marcel Kittel

This profile of stage 4 makes it look more difficult than it actually was. While it has two category 4 climbs, they were not difficult enough to hurt the sprinters, and the last part of the race was pretty flat -- allowing the peloton to chase down the breakaway and set the finish up for the sprinters. And that's all German rider Marcel Kittel needed, as he won his third stage of this year's four stages -- showing himself to be probably the strongest sprinter this year. Alexander Kristoff of Norway finished second and Arnaud Demare of France finished third.

Slovakian rider Peter Sagan finished in fourth and retained the green jersey though (having been near the top in all four stages, and having done much better than Kittel in the one stage he didn't win). There was no change in the overall race lead, but that could change in stage 5 -- because although the stage is pretty flat, much of it is run on cobblestones (which likely could cause a lot of accidents).  Here are the standings after stage 4:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Race Leader)
1. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Astana Pro Team
2. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Cannondale..........0' 02"
3. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) BMC Racing Team..........0' 02"
4. Michael Albasini (Switzerland) Orica Greenedge..........0' 02"
5. Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky..........0' 02"
6. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands) Belkin Pro Cycling..........0' 02"
7. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Belgium) Lotto-Belisol..........0' 02"
8. Alberto Contador (Spain) Tinkoff-Saxo..........0' 02"
9. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) BMC Racing Team..........0' 02"
10. Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) Astana Pro Team..........0' 02"
11. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spain) Movistar Team..........0' 02"
12. Tiago Machado (Portugal) Team Netapp-Endura..........0' 02"
13. Rui Alberto Costa (Portugal) Lampre-Merida..........0' 02"
14. Romain Bardet (France) AG2R La Mondiale..........0' 02"
15. Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spain) Trek Factory Racing..........0' 02"
16. Richie Porte (Australia) Team Sky..........0' 02"
17. Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) AG2R La Mondiale..........0' 02"
18. Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spain) Team Sky..........0' 02"
19. Tony Gallopin (France) Lotto-Belisol..........0' 02"
20. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) Omega Pharma-Quik Step..........0' 02"
21. Andrew Talansky (United States) Garmin-Sharp..........0' 02"

GREEN JERSEY (Best Sprinter)
1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Cannondale..........158 pts
2. Marcel Kittel (Germany) Team Giant-Shimano..........135 pts
3. Bryan Coquard (France) Team Europcar..........121 pts
4. Alexander Kristoff (Norway) Team Katusha..........82 pts
5. Mark Renshaw (Australia) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........48 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Best Climber)
1. Cyril Lemoine (France) Cofidis, Solutions Credits..........6 pts
2. Blel Kadri (France) AG2R La Mondiale..........5 pts
3. Jens Voigt (Germany) trek Factory Racing..........4 pts
4. Nicolas Edet (France) Cofidis, Solutions Credits..........4 pts

WHITE JERSEY (Best Young Rider)
1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Cannondale
2. Romain Bardet (France) AG2R La Mondiale..........0' 00"
3. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) Omega Pharma-Quick Step..........0' 00"
4. Thibaut Pinot (France) FDJ.FR..........0' 14"
5. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) Team Giant-Shimano..........0' 14"

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Team Sky (Great Britain)
2. Astana Pro Team (Kazakhstan)..........0' 12"
3. BMC Racing (United States)..........0' 14"
4. Team Netapp-Endura (Germany)..........0' 47"
5. Trek Factory Racing (United States)..........0' 47"