Marcel Kittel grabs Stage 10 win after final sprint ends in photo finish

WATCH IT HERE: CRACK Australian sprinter Matt Goss has miraculously avoided crashing on a controversy-laced 10th stage of the Tour de France.

CRACK Australian sprinter Matt Goss has miraculously avoided crashing on a controversy-laced 10th stage of the Tour de France as Mark Cavendish was cleared of causing a high-speed late fall.

Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) was on stage winner Marcel Kittel's wheel inside the final 500m when Cavendish (OPQS) made contact with Kittel's lead-out rider Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano)

Aerial vision showed Cavendish leaning to his left as Veelers looked down, apparently worried he might have dropped his chain.

KITTEL COLLECTS, FROOME READY FOR TRIAL

Third across the line behind Germans Kittel and Andre Greipel, Cavendish immediately apologised via Twitter.

"Whatever has happened, if I'm at fault, I'm sorry," he tweeted. "There's no way I'd move on a rider deliberately, especially one not contesting a sprint. I hope Tom Veelers is OK."

Soon after, Cavendish tweeted: "Just seen the sprint. I believe I didn't move line. I'm actually coming past Veelers & we touch elbows when he moves. Anyway, hope he's OK."

But there was drama later as Cavendish angrily confiscated a reporter’s tape recorder and Veelers accused the Briton of dangerous riding.

“I did my leadout for Marcel, and as I did my job, I went out of the way,” Veelers said. “And it was Cavendish who took me off my bike.

“When I see the video it’s very clear it’s his fault, he has to be DQed. The sprint was strange; it’s unbelievable that something like that happens.

“I want excuses at least. I’m a little finished with Cavendish.”

Veelers said he was "bruised and sore" after the 70kmh tumble as commissaires cleared Cavendish of blame.

Cavendish said he was merely following the road as it bore left, but was furious after being asked if the crash was his fault.

He grabbed a reporter’s voice recorder and disappeared inside the Omega Pharma bus. The recorder was quickly returned.

Goss could not believe he had escaped unscathed after Veelers' bike cascaded into his path.

Marcel Kittel (R) of Germany riding for Team Argos-Shimano beats second place finisher Andre Greipel (C) of Germany riding for Lotto-Belisol to the line to win stage ten of the 2013 Tour de France.

Asked how he stayed upright, the Tasmanian said: "If you could tell me, we'd both know. I've got no idea.

"It was just complete luck, the bike shot straight out in front of me and usually when that happens, it's day over.

"It bounced off my front wheel and off my leg and shot me towards the barrier.

"I was still off the ground a little bit, but managed to somehow stop it and turn myself away from the barrier.

"My foot had clipped out of the pedals so, by the time I got that back in, it was too late."

Goss crossed in 11th placed after 195km from Saint-Gildas-des-Bois as Chris Froome (Sky) retained the yellow jersey by finishing in a 99-rider bunch.

Cadel Evans (BMC) remains Australia's highest-placed overall contender in 16th, 4min,36sec behind Froome.

Netherland's Tom Veelers is seen after a fall at the end of the 197 km tenth stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France.

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) holds an 83-point lead in the race for the green sprinter's jersey despite Kittel winning his second stage of the centenary tour.

Renowned as a fair rider, Cavendish shook his head in frustration after crossing the line in Saint-Malo after what had been a largely sedate stage.

But the race exploded inside the last 5km after a five-rider breakway was finally rounded up.

A series of high-speed crashes in the knifing crosswinds inside the final 20km added even more difficulty to a testing finale.

Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil), Svein Tuft (Orice-GreenEDGE) and Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) all came down heavily as the pace intensified.

Orica-GreenEDGE was one of several sprint trains to assemble at the front of the bunch before chaos ensued inside the last 500m.

Earlier, the first attack came less than 5km into the stage after the peloton emerged from the neutralised section in the Loire-Atlantic region.

Germany's Marcel Kittel screams as he crosses the finish line in first place.

Jerome Cousin (Europcar), Juan Jose Oroz (Euskaltel), Luis Mate (Cofidis), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansolile) and Julien Simon (Sojasun) were allowed to jump away on a day always destined to to be decided by sprinters.

Given reasonable latitude, the quintet built a maximum lead 5min,5sec after 32km in mild conditions.

Mindful of not giving too much leash to the breakaway, the peloton controlled the time gap as sprint outfits Lotto Belisol, AQrgos Shimano, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Chris Froome's Sky lieutenants kept watch at the head of the bunch.

The escape group sped through the first hour at an average of 42km before slowing appreciably to 36km as the game of cat and mouse continued.

Ploughing into a strengthening headwind, the bunch picked up the tempo approaching the intermediate sprint at Le Hingle.

Spaniard Mate led the breakaway across the line but, with 70km to go, the focus was on which of the sprint outfits would be first though La Hingle.

Greipel cleverly drafted Sagan's Cannondale train to hold off the Slovakian with Cavendish a close third before the overall contenders started to move closer on smaller, winding roads.

Australia's top-placed rider Cadel Evans (C) with BMC teammates during the 197km stage.

Dutchman Westra claimed the only categorised climb of the day, jumping away on the bottom of the ascent to Cote de Dinan, to pocket maximum King of the Mountain points.

By now, the gap to a massing bunch was dropping steadily but, after a brief rally with 50km to race, all the escapees were not caught until after 192km away.

It was merely a foretaste of a manic finale.

Re-live our live coverage of Stage 10 from Saint-Gildas-Des-Bois to Saint-Malo in the window below.