Although the 222 kilometres stage from Tallard to Nimes, which proved a respite for the yellow jersey contenders after a mountainous two days in the Alps, was always destined to come down to a bunch sprint, it seemed for so long that this would not be the case.

New Zealand's Jack Bauer and Switzerland's Martin Elmiger broke away in the early stages and, although the peloton swiftly cut the gap, the large number of roundabouts to negotiate in slippery conditions made it seem as if they had miscalculated their chase.

The duo still had a 13-second lead with one kilometre to go and remained eight seconds ahead with 750 metres left.

But, despite a brilliant sprinting effort by Bauer in particular, reality was restored as Kristoff surged to the line first to follow his earlier victory on stage 12.