Dominant Kittel doubles up on The Mall

Kittel once again benefited from a superb lead out by his Giant Shimano team as he held Slovakia's Peter Sagan (Cannondale) at bay at the conclusion of the 155km stage from Cambridge.

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished safely to preserve his yellow jersey as the race heads to France after a glorious opening three days in Britain.

Winner of four stages last year, 26-year-old Kittel underlined his credentials as the best sprinter of his generation after what he described as "one of the fastest sprints I've ever done".

"In the last five-hundred metres the biggest fight was already over," Kittel said. "Until then it was hectic because it started to rain and everyone wanted to be on the front."

A crash following a tight right-hand bend into Parliament Square at Westminster held up Kittel's compatriot Andre Greipel, the German national champion of the Lotto Belisol team.

But Kittel was perfectly position having been shielded by his team-mates after a stressful ride into central London from the Olympic Park to the east of the city.

"I got a bit lost but Tom Veelers bought me back to the wheel of Koen de Kort and then we rode hard. The finish was just amazing - I've never seen such a finish in cycling."

Green jersey Sagan finished behind Kittel for the second time in the race, while Australia's Mark Renshaw - elevated to Omega Pharma-Quick Step's main sprinter following the withdrawal of Mark Cavendish after stage one - took third place.

French youngster Bryan Coquard (Europcar) - who showed his class by leading the peloton through the intermediate sprint in the Epping Forest, 47km from the finish - took fourth place ahead of Milan-San Remo winner, the Norwegian Alexandre Kristoff (Katusha).

Nibali finished safely in the peloton alongside his rivals Chris Froome (Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) to keep his two-second lead over Sagan in the general classification as the Tour shifts across the Channel and into France for the first time.

TWO-MAN BREAK: For the third consecutive stage, French pro-continental team Bretagne-Seche attacked from the word go, with Frenchman Jean-Marc Bideau joined by Czech rouleur Jan Barta of fellow wildcards NetApp-Endura. With a bunch sprint in London very much a formality, the duo were very much on sponsorship duty for their two teams - although they did build up a maximum lead of four minutes as the race left Cambridgeshire and entered Essex.

Bideau picked up the points ahead of Barta in the intermediate sprint at Epping Forest - but by the time Coquard led the peloton through ahead of Sagan the gap had been reduced to just over a minute. That advantage increased once again to two minutes before the peloton started to lead the chase.

As the race passed through Canary Wharf, Bideau and then Barta were caught by the pack, the latter with around 6km remaining and just after the heavens started to open in typically English style.

MAN OF THE DAY: It's hard to look beyond Marcel Kittel for this award - especially on a day which offered very little drama compared to the opening two stages in Yorkshire. While the majority of the stage was rather formulaic, Kittel lit up the finale - despite the heavy rain which started to fall inside the final 10 kilometres.

BIGGEST LOSER: Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) hit the deck on the outskirts of London following an incident with a spectator - a cruel twist of fate for a rider who has not had the best of luck the past couple of years. But the most disappointed will be Andre Greipel, who once again didn't feature in the final sprint and - despite his status as German national champion - is surely his nation's second best rider right now.

COMING UP: The race finally hits French soil with Tuesday's 163.5km fourth stage from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille likely to be one for the sprinters despite a couple of Cat.4 climbs along a route often used in the Four Days of Dunkerque race. The intermediate sprint at Cassel is in fact atop a slight mound, but the finish at Lille is flat. It's hard not to look past a Kittel hat-trick.

PLAT DU JOUR: Lille's local dishes include a beef and beer stew called 'carbonnade flamande', a creamy fish or poultry dish called 'waterzoi' or the famous potted terrine 'potjevleesch'.

STAGE IN A SENTENCE: King Kittel wins in the shadow of Buckingham Palace as the Tour bid adieu to England after a fan-tastic opening three days.