 It was at that point that Marcel Kittel, Argos – Shimano's main sprinter, abandoned the race due to his ongoing gastroenteritis. The leaders held an advantage of around three minutes as they approached the intermediate sprint point in Breteuil, coming after 107.5 km (66.8 mi) of the parcours. Ladagnous took the maximum points on offer, as the four leaders rolled through the line without competition. As it was the previous day, Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) led the main field across the line, ahead of Orica – GreenEDGE's Matthew Goss and Rabobank rider Mark Renshaw. The gap remained around the three-minute mark until 40 km (24.9 mi) to go, when it was gradually brought back by the peloton. At 3 km (1.9 mi), the lead quartet held a lead of 20 seconds, while in the peloton, another big crash occurred; among those hitting the tarmac were points leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas – Cannondale) and Garmin – Sharp's Tyler Farrar.
