Tour de France Stage 21 reaction from Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish

We've had it easy for the last 4 Tours. Cav has not had any genuine challengers, from either individuals or teams. This year we saw Argos & Lotto out ride OPQS in the last 2 - 3Km. In the past no other team has been competing for Lead Out dominance once Cavs team were in position. Almost as if the other teams couldn't be bothered.2012 said it all when we saw Wiggo lead out until the final right hand sweeper. Psychology matters hugely and in 2012 Sky basically said (through their riding) don't bother trying to spoil the party, this is our year. The peloton complied like the true gentlemen of honour that they are. And we had the most wonderful summer as a result.

2013 was very different. Teams could see OPQS were inexperienced and that Cav would struggle to get it together behind a weak Lead Out train. So up step the 2 pretender teams (a term I use without being derogatory) to fill the void left by HTC. Of the two, Kittel is the biggest threat to Cavs future stage wins, but if they both started absolutely level I would still put my money on Cav. Greipel has been around for as long as Cav and has been beaten by him in most head to head sprints. That will continue to be the case in my view so long as Cav has no major fitness or helath setbacks. Combined with a few mishaps, which in a 3 week tour is very common, OPQS could not get the train together for long enough to give Cav the edge. Solo runs are always more random and though Cav has succeeded in past Tours, going solo on those occasions, the competition hasn't quite been good enough to hold him off.

With Renshaw moving to OPQS I suspect Cav will improve on this years stage wins but Argos & Lotto will still be big challengers. I don't expect to see dominance by any sprint team, as we did with HTC in 2010 & 2011, at the next Tour but you should never bet against Cav.

The one person we have left out of the equation is Sagan. Hhe isn't as super quick as the top 3 but then again the Canondale team are pretty weak when it comes to Lead Outs. If anything Canondale highlight the point about the necessity of a strong Lead Out train. The fact that they don't have one leaves Sagan to go solo, which he does superbly. I still havn't warmed to him, as his post race interviews and voice grate on me but this year I felt that changing. He is a great showman and a superb bike handler so deserves all the success he gets. However, I could tell from his interviews that winning the Green jersey was fine but only one stage win was not enough. I am sure he believes that the Green is a sprinters jersey and stage wins and not simply about consistency. He is pleased to win it but would have liked more sprint stage wins. Canondale will have to do some serious reorganising for that to happen but it may well make TdF2014 a great sprinters tour.

As far as Stage 21 results went I think OPQS were beaten fair and square but that Cav, effectively riding solo, did nothing wrong.

Cav's won just about everything in his career so far but now he has a new battle with Kittel to focus on. I think the competition should benefit all cycling fans who want to see a true contest and not the walkover it's been up to now. Looking forward to 2014 and shouting even louder for Cav.

At 2km to go it looked like OPQS were perfectly lined up..., but then they seemed to run out of steam & having a Cannondale rider that got in the mix also confused things - he slowed as soon as he hit the front meaning Cav was further back I think...

Fair play to Kittel though & a great TdF all round

Cav's rear wheel went airborne too, if you saw it. That might not seem much, but the speeds they're going during their sprints it has to make a difference, his road line was shit (not him, the actual condition of the road). I also think if Cav had another 30 - 40 metres the outcome would be different, meaning Cav was probably correct in thinking he should have gone earlier. Great tour though, enjoyed all of it.

Watch the replay and look at the cadence of the three. Kittel is pushing a bigger gear with slower cadencer. And Mark had a lot of sideways movement. And yes, Mark's train wasn't as helpful.

Nah, Mark was finishing faster - he just ran out of road. The train derailed with Trentin pulling out so early and there was too much to do, that's all. Physical size doesn't mean much when it comes to top end speed otherwise we'd be seeing a lot more monster efforts from the clydes out on their bun runs each Sunday.

Kittel was stronger. Look at the size of him compared to Mark and Andre!

He wasn't blocked!!

Watching it last night it seemed Chava and Martin did decent turns on the front, then Trentin did about 5 seconds in the wind, leaving Steegmans to do an overly long lead out. OPQS just seem too keen to organise their lead-outs leaving others to come over the top in the last km. You can only really do what they do if you have the legs and last night, they patently didn't.

Don't think he was blocked, but his lead-out train fell apart. Cav himself will tell you that you need to be third or fourth wheel coming out of that last bend. Cav was (I think) fifth or sixth. Kittel, on the other hand, had a train that held together and he was fourth wheel at that crucial point.

If, as has been suggested on the oh-so-reliable twitter grapevine, Renshaw goes to OPQS for next year, then we may just see a battle royale. Let's face it, Rabobank/blanco/belkin don't seem to have done much with him.

Blocked? Cobblers.

Cav blatantly blocked by Greipel, unlike him to be so polite about it....