PARIS, July 12 -- German rider Marcel Kittel on Wednesday recorded his fifth sprint victory in the 11th stage of the 2017 Tour de France, while the flat stage was not all about comfort with several nasty crashes ahead of challenge awaiting in the Pyrenees Mountains.

It meant that Kittel just lost once in the final sprint, and he has achieved back-to-back wins twice this year. A total of 14 stage wins extended his lead atop the all-time German riders list.

"It's incredible because even being at the top of your game, you're never sure to win. In those five bunch sprints I won, I never made a mistake," said Kittel.

After snatching 50 more points at the finish line, Kittel has led Australian Michael Matthews by 133 points for the sprinters green jersey.

"I'm speechless. Most importantly, I've got the legs and the mind for it at the moment," added the German sprinter.

Wednesday's 203.5km stage from Eymet to Pau provided some riders, including yellow jersey owner Christopher Froome, enough comfort before they addressed the challenge ahead. For others, however, the memory was not all sweet.

Dario Cataldo, teammate of general classification runner-up Fabio Aru in the Astana Pro Team, had to withdraw due to a broken wrist suffered in a crash midway through the stage.

Third-ranked Frenchman Romain Bardet hurt his knee slightly, before changing a bike and regrouping himself into the race for not losing time. Alberto Contador, the two-time winner, also went down twice.

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