Zdenek Stybar wins on the final climb in Le Havre but Etixx Quick Step has little to celebrate because it loses Toni Martin and his yellow jersey: the German, when the red flame of the last kilometer is now over, has a sudden swerve that takes him to collide with Cocquard who in turn falls on Nibali. Froome, Van Garderen, Quintana and others less famous also set foot on the ground. It is the usual painful domino of several cyclists flying to the ground, the umpteenth daily carom of this Tour in a stage that all in all was spinning off quite calmly, in the unique scenery of the falaises on the Channel, waiting for the final tussle after made the Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot happy, the first African to conquer the leader's jersey of the climbers. Everyone gets up immediately except Martin. Nibali curses but doesn't seem to have suffered any physical or sporting damage since the times have been neutralised. However, the nervousness of the Italian champion is growing day after day. To have the worst is Martin who slams his left shoulder, breaking his collarbone.
He has the strength to get back on the bike with his arm immobilized and escorted by the world champion Kwiatkowski and three other teammates he manages to cross the finish line to the applause of the crowd. The Tour is over for him. Today, when the race restarts towards Fougères with Chris Froome back in the yellow jersey, Martin will already be in Hamburg ready to undergo an operation to hasten recovery times.
After a long three-way breakaway with Teklehaimanot, Quemeneur and Van Bilsen, the stage is resolved in the last thousand meters with Martin's crash which splits the group into several parts: in front of the big names there are also Contador and Valverde who have not remained entangled in Martin's fall but the match for the stage victory seems to be a deal between Sagan, Van Avarmaet, Degenkolb, the fastest of the company, but less than 500 meters away, Stybar, the former cyclo-cross world champion, mocks everyone and if he goes off to seize his first victory in the Tour alone.
Sagan is second again for the third time at 2”. Third the French Coquard. A success, that of the twenty-eight-year-old Czech, which adds to the one obtained in the spring in Siena's Strade Bianche and which serves to mitigate the sadness of Martin's farewell to the Tour at Etixx.
