Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) moved ahead in the battle between the sprinters at the Tour de France as he became the first rider to take his second stage win at this year's race. In a dramatic sprint in Saint-Malo, the German avoided a crash by his lead-out man Tom Veelers and narrowly edged out compatriot Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) while Chris Froome (Sky) safely defended his leader's jersey.

Prior to today's flat stage in Bretagne, total equality ruled in the internal battle between the three big sprinters Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) at this year's Tour de France as they had all taken one stage win during the first week. Today Kittel moved ahead of his rivals in the victory ranking as he narrowly edged out compatriot Greipel at the end of a windy day in Bretagne.

The sprint  was a dramatic one as Cavendish brought down Kittel's lead-out man Tom Veelers during the sprint but luckily the Dutchman escaped his tumble without any serious injuries. The Manxman himself had to settle for 3rd behind his two big rivals while Peter Sagan (Cannondale) finished fourth to comfortably defend his green jersey.

With 2,2 km to go, the world's best lead-out train kicked into action as Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) hit the front. He quickly gave away the lead to teammate Marcel Sieberg who won a hard battle with the Argos-Shimano train which tried to move ahead of the Lotto formation.

Just as they passed the flamme rouge, the next part of the Lotto train took over as Jurgen Roelandts was next in line to lead the team. Cavendish was now too far back in the peloton and so Gert Steegmans had to make an early lead-out to bring his captain into position.

The Belgian moved all the way to the front while Cavendish moved into Veelers' wheel and thus moved away Kittel from his teammate. Moments later Greg Henderson opened up his lead-out of Greipel and all seemed to be in place for a direct battle between the sprinting giants.

Kittel knew that he was far back and so opened a long sprint while Veelers looked back just to see that he had Cavendish in his wheel. The Manxman swerved left and hit the Ducthman who was brought down and most of the sprinters were forced to brake.

Up ahead Greipel was now way clear of his competitors but Kittel produced and amazing power in the final meters. Just before the line, he passed his compatriot and took his second win, a little more than a week after his victory in stage 1.

Chris Froome (Sky) finished safely in the main bunch to comfortably defend his leader's jersey. He faces an important test in tomorrow's 33km flat time trial where he is likely to increase his advantage over his rivals.

Starting at 10.00, you can follow the entire stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

5 riders attack from the gun

The 197km 10th stage was a flat one and the riders were faced with a headwind for most of the day. As the sprinters were unlikely to miss out today, there was no big battle to get into the ealy move.

Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil), Julien Simon (Sojasun), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Juan Jose Oroz (Euskaltel) and Jerome Cousin attacked from the gun and were allowed to build a gap of more than 4 minutes while Sky set a modest pace on the front of the peloton. That was when the sprint teams decided to start their chase and Argos-Shimano, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Lotto-Belisol all joined the British team.

4 riders chase

As the gap reached the 5-minute mark, the advantage was stabilized by Frederik Willems (Lotto), David Lopez (Sky), Johannes Fröhlinger (Argos) and Jerome Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). The fierce headwind made for an easy day for most of the peloton but the four workhorses all had to work hard.

Lopez was replaced by Kanstantsin Siutsou for a short moment while Willems handed over the duties to his teammate Bart De Clercq and Fröhlinger to his teammate Simon Geschke. The peloton enjoyed a mostly quiet day ahead of tomorrow's time trial while the gap was stable at around 4 minutes.

Greipel wins the sprint

The first action took place with 69,5km to go where the riders contested the intermediate sprint. Mate and Westra went head-to-head - Mate took the win - but it was the battle between the sprinters behind that was more interesting.

Kristijan Koren, Alan Marangoni, Maciej Bodnar and Fabio Sabatini gave Sagan a perfect lead-out but - as it has been the case most days - Greipel took a clear win. Sagan was 2nd and Cavendish 3rd but the German only reduced his points deficit by one single point.

BMC takes control

The action had seen the gap drop down to just 2.10 and moments later the rider took a right-hand turn to head into a short crosswind section. The big teams battled hard for control and it was BMC who led the peloton into the corner. However, the wind was not strong enough to split the peloton and so the bunch calmed down again moments later.

Willems and Pineau once again took up the pace-setting duties and were later joined by Fröhlinger. Once again Willems moved back to hand over the duties to De Clercq and for some time the trio kept the gap stable at around 2.30.

Westra on the attack

Up ahead, Westra attacked on the day's only climb to big up the only point on offer and he chose to persist in his attack. He was, however, brought back a few moments later, and the quintet was once again back together.

With 23km to go, the riders took a left-hand turn that would lead them onto a coastal road and into a fierce cross-tailwind. As they approached that corner, the battle for position was fierce as no one wanted to risk getting caught out in echelons and all the big teams formed competing trains on the front of the peloton.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step lead through crucial corner

As the gap had now come down to less than a minute, Oroz tried to attack his companions but he had no success. Behind, Omega Pharma-Quick Step took control as they took the feared corner, Sylvain Chavanel setting the pace.

Froome had surprisingly little team support and only strong Ian Stannard made sure to keep the race leader protected. Saxo-Tinkoff saw an opportunity and moved to the front in an attempt to gain time ont heir big rival. Nicolas Roche, Matteo Tosatto and Daniele Bennati all took huge turns on the front while Westra chose to fall back into the peloton.

Millar keeps Martin protected

Saxo-Tinkoff stopped their effort and instead it was David Millar who took a huge turn on the front to keep teammate Daniel Martin safe. Up ahead, Simon tried an attack but like Oroz and Westra earlier in the race, he had no success.

As Millar finished his work, the peloton slowed down a bit as no team wanted to risk burning up their riders too early. With 5km to go, Orica-GreenEdge took control with Stuart O'Grady but they were quickly overtaken by Omega Pharma-Quick Step with Michal Kwiatkowski, Chavanel and Tony Martin.

The break is caught

With 4km to go, it was all over for the four escapees and short attempts from Mate and Simon had no success. Instead, Lars Bak tried to move Lotto into the front positions but it was Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) who took control.

Moments later he was overtaken by Adam Hansen and the Lotto-Belisol train which started the dramatic final that ended up in a clash between the German sprinting titans.

Result:

1. Marcel Kittel 4.53.25

2. Andre Greipel

3. Mark Cavendish

4. Peter Sagan

5. William Bonnet

6. Alexander Kristoff

7. Samuel Dumoulin

8. Kevin Reza

9. Danny Van Poppel

10. Jose Joaquin Rojas

General classification:

1. Chris Froome 41.52.43

2. Alejandro Valverde +1.25

3. Bauke Mollema +1.44

4. Laurens Ten Dam +1.50

5. Roman Kreuziger +1.51

6. Alberto Contador

7. Nairo Quintana +2.02

8. Daniel Martin +2.28

9. Joaquin Rodriguez +2.31

10. Rui Costa +2.45

Points classification:

1. Peter Sagan 269

2. Andre Greipel 186

3. Mark Cavendish 166

4. Marcel Kittel 132

5. Alexander Kristoff 131

Mountains classification:

1. Pierre Rolland 49

2. Chris Froome 33

3. Richie Porte 28

4. Nairo Quintana 26

5. Mikel Nieve 21

Youth classification:

1. Nairo Quintana 41.54.45

2. Michal Kwiatkowski +1.23

3. Romain Bardet +5.07

4. Andrew Talansky +9.13

5. Thibaut Pinot +31.09

Teams classification:

1. Movistar 124.51.44

2. Team Saxo-Tinkoff  +4.11

3. Belkin +5.22

4. Ag2r +8.07

5. Radioshack +14.07