Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) proved that he has definitely taken over the sprinting crown as he won the most prestigious sprint stages of them all. Going head to head with big rivals Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) on the famous Champs-Elysees, the German proved that he is simply the fastest at the moment while Chris Froome (Sky) safely crossed the line one minute behind to seal his first ever Tour de France win.

The organizers of the Tour de France could not have wished a more beautiful end to the 100th edition of the world's biggest bike race as the world was treated to one of the most beautiful sprints ever seen on the famous Champs-Elysees. In light darkness on a beautiful evening in Paris, the three sprinting giants Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish sprinted side by side on the most famous avenue of them all.

In the end, it was once  again Kittel who emerged as the fastest, proving that he has taken over the position of the world's leading sprinter. Having started the sprint from the first position, he convincingly held off Greipel and Cavendish who were involved in a tight battle for second, the German coming out triumphant. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) was a distant best of the rest, far behind the three best sprinters in the world.

Around one minute later, Chris Froome crossed the line with his arms around the shoulders of his Sky teammates to seal the overall win in the world's biggest bike race. He may have given away some time in his celebrations but he still to a crushing victory over Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha).

As the riders passed the finish line to start the final lap on the 6,7km finishing circuit - which for the first time took the riders all the way around the Arc de Triomphe - Geraint Thomas led the peloton with his teammate Froome in his wheel and caught the three last escapees, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Manuel Quinziato (BMC) and Bram Tankink (Belkin) just in that moment.

All the sprint teams were lined up behind the Sky riders and were ready to launch their sprinters on the famous avenue. Disaster struck for Greipel as one of the most crucial parts of his train, Jurgen Roelandts, punctured and so the Lotto sprinter was left without one of his most important domestiques.

Having missed out on the overall win, Saxo-Tinkoff wanted to give Daniele Bennati a chance to shine in the final sprint and so the team was the next to take control. Nicolas Roche and even Alberto Contador led the peloton while all the sprint teams hesitated a little further behind.

With 2,6km to go Omega Pharma-Quick Step train kicked into action as Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra and Sylvain Chavanel swapped turns on the front. For a moment, they battled with the Argos train but it was the Belgian team that remained in control as Michal Kwiatkowski now took over the lead position.

With 1km to go, Matteo Trentin upped the pace a further notch but he was overtaken by Greg Henderson (Lotto). The Kiwi had, however, lost his sprinter Greipel who was in the wheel of Kittel and his lead-out man Koen De Kort in fourth position with Cavendish in 5th and Sagan in 6th.

Having taken the final turn with 400m to go, De Kort gave Kittel the perfect lead-out before the big German finally opened up the immense power himself. Greipel and Cavendish both tried to come around in a fantastic three-rider battle but no one had the speed to match the Argos sprinter. He crossed the line in first position to take his 4th stage win in the race and be the first rider to beat Cavendish on the Champs-Elysees.

Froome rolled across the line a little later before being celebrated with a fantastic light show as the winner of the 100th edition of the race.

A festive start

The 133,5km stage was off to its usual festive start as the riders rolled through the beautiful garden of the Versailles garden. Froome, Quintana and Rodriguez took the opportunity to move ahead while the photographers also made perfect shots of the wearers of the distinctive jerseys.

As usual, it did not make any difference that the flag was waved to signal the official start and the first part of the stage was raced at a leisurely pace. Gert Steegmans and Jose Joaquin Rojas were allowed to win the sprints on the two climbs while the only incident was a minor crash that took down Sergey Lagutin and Bram Tankink.

Sky in control

As the riders were only 12km away from the first passage of the finishing line, Sky finally moved ahead to signal that the real bike race had now started and Kanstantsin Siutsou was the first to take a turn on the front. As the peloton took the turn onto the finishing straight, Richie Porte moved ahead and was allowed the honour of being the first rider to cross the line.

The Sky team was allowed to lead the peloton on the first lap until the first attacks finally were launched. Sebastien Minard (Ag2r) was the first to go off while Rui Costa (Movistar), Jens Voigt (Radioshack), Stuart O'Grady (Orica-GreenEdge) and Christophe Riblon (Ag2r) were all part of the early action.

Boom with a gap

The first rider to get a slight gap was Lars Boom (Belkin) but he was overtaken by the peloton a little later. Sky controlled everything firmly and later Lotto-Belisol, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Argos-Shimano also showed their intentions.

With 50km to go, Julien El Fares (Sojasun) attacked and he was joined by Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge), Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil) and David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) in what should be the first main break of the day. The four riders benefited from a moment of hesitation in the peloton as Cavendish had a puncture.

Riders try to chase

For some time Steve Morabito (BMC) was in lone pursuit of those four riders while Cadel Evans (BMC), Robert Gesink (Belkin) and Jerome Cousin (Europcar) also moved ahead. They caught Morabito to form a chasing quartet while the peloton had now got organized with Peter Velits, Jerome Pineau, Johannes Fröhlinger and Simon Geschke doing all the work.

Flecha took a huge turn on the front and only Millar had the power to answer his accelerations. Meyer and El Fares fell back into the peloton which had now also caught the chasers.

Muravyev in pursuit

For a long time, Millar and Flecha had a relatively stable 20-second gap while behind a small try to create a chase group did not get any group. However, the gap suddenly started to come down and so Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana) launched an attack as he tried to bridge the gap.

With 31km to go, Millar sensed the danger and left Flecha behind, the Spaniard falling back to Muravyev. Those two riders were quickly caught while Millar managed to build the gap back up to 30 seconds.

Roy attacks

The Brit did a fabulous job but Pineau, Velits, Fröhlinger and Geschke were too strong. When the gap was down to less than 10 seconds, Jeremy Roy (FDJ) attacked and he quickly overtook the Brit.

That was when Valverde, Quinziato and Tankink went on the offensive and that trio passed both Millar and Roy to suddenly become the leaders of the stage. While Millar and Roy fell back into the peloton, the trio built up a 20-second gap and did a solid job to keep the chasers at bay.

As the sprint teams started to get organized, the pace in the peloton picked up and when Thomas moved to the front as they took the turn onto the finishing straight for the penultimate time, it spelled the end for the breakaway. Everything was brought back together just as they crossed the line and from there, the exciting finale took off.

Result:

1. Marcel Kittel 3.06.14

2. Andre Greipel

3. Mark Cavendish

4. Peter Sagan

5. Roberto Ferrari

6. Alexander Kristoff

7. Kevin Reza

8. Yohann Gene

9. Daniele Bennati

10. Murilo Fischer

General classification:

1. Chris Froome 83.56.40

2. Nairo Quintana +4.20

3. Joaquin Rodriguez +5.04

4. Alberto Contador +6.27

5. Roman Kreuziger +7.27

6. Bauke Mollema +11.42

7. Jakob Fuglsang +12.17

8. Alejandro Valverde +15.26

9. Daniel Navarro +15.52

10. Andrew Talansky +17.39

Points classification:

1. Peter Sagan 409

2. Mark Cavendish 312

3. Andre Greipel 267

4. Marcel Kittel 222

5. Alexander Kristoff 177

Mountains classification:

1. Nairo Quintana 147

2. Chris Froome 136

3. Pierre Rolland 119

4. Joaquin Rodriguez 99

5. Christophe Riblon 98

Youth classification:

1. Nairo Quintana 84.01.00

2. Andrew Talansky +13.19

3. Michal Kwiatkowski +14.39

4. Romain Bardet +22.22

5. Tom Dumoulin +1.30.10

Teams classification:

1. Team Saxo-Tinkoff  251.11.07

2. Ag2r +8.28

3. Radioshack +9.02

4. Movistar +22.49

5. Belkin +38.30