Six millimetres. That was the margin that Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) had over Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) on stage 7 of the Tour de France from Troyes to Nuits-Saint-Georges. The advanced Tissot timing system clocked the difference between the two at 0.0003 seconds while arriving at the decision in favour of the German.
"First I heard that I had won, but then someone said it wasn't official and anything could happen," Kittel said in the mixed zone. "I regretted that I had already celebrated a bit and I could end up being runner-up. Anyway, I've given everything I had so I had no regrets, whatever the outcome would've been.
"I'm super happy. It's a huge achievement for me and for the team. They all work so hard, especially Julien Vermote. He probably did nearly 100 kilometres in front of the peloton to control the breakaway."
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At first, Kittel didn't seem to feel sorry for Boasson Hagen but then he saw the finish photo. "Shit. That's shit for Edvald. I don't see it," Kittel said while zooming in on the finish photo with NOS TV.
"It was really close. Six millimetres decide over a lot of joy, or a big disappointment. I'm happy that I could throw my bike far enough to have six millimetres advantage. It's definitely a record for me, to get such a close victory. It's closer than the win over Bryan Coquard in Limoges last year."
When asked whether it should've been a tie, Kittel disagreed. "You think so? I'm sure the jury has more than enough options to judge on how many millimetres the gap was."
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