ANDRE Greipel sprinted to his third stage win of this year’s Tour de France in Valence as Britain’s Chris Froome comfortably kept his overall lead.The German rider held off countryman John Degenkolb and Norwegian Alexander Kristoff on the line in a bunch sprint.
Briton Mark Cavendish was not involved in the sprint on Stage 15 as he was dropped on the first climb of the day.
It was a quiet day for Froome who still leads Colombian Nairo Quintana by three minutes 10 seconds with a week to go.
A nine-man breakaway was caught with 40km to go, and while Italian Matteo Trentin and Canadian Ryder Hesjedal attempted a further break, the peloton swallowed them up 10km further down the road.
Czech Zdenek Stybar – winner of stage six – broke away with three kilometres to go but ran out of steam and was caught inside the final kilometre as Greipel sprinted to victory.