Marcel Kittel won stage 10 of the Tour de France in Saint-Malo after Mark Cavendish was involved in a collision during the sprint to the line.

Ireland's Daniel Martin finished 42nd, 11 seconds behind the main peleton while Nicolas Roche (102nd) rolled in one minute and 40 seconds down. Martin remains in eighth place but Roche drops to 47th in the overall classification.

Kittel broke in the final few metres to pip Andre Greipel over the line, while Cavendish crossed in third having sat up in the final few metres.

The Manxman had been well placed when the sprint began but then clashed with Kittel's lead-out man Tom Veelers, sending the Dutchman crashing to the floor.

Although Cavendish remained upright, his rhythm had been lost and he gave up the chase.

Cavendish was shaking his head as he crossed the line, another chance gone for him to win a 25th Tour stage and move level with Andre Leducq in third-place on the all-time list.

The result was a big disappointment for an army of British fans who had crossed the channel to watch the finish in Saint-Malo, including a group of school children from his native Isle of Man.

The incident continues Cavendish's frustrating Tour to date. Although he won stage five in Marseille, his hopes of wearing the yellow jersey on the opening day were ended by the chaos caused when Orica GreenEdge's team bus struck the finish line gantry, while he also crashed on stage six to Montpellier and was beaten in the sprint finish.

The tumbling Veelers caused alarm in the fast moving peloton but Chris Froome made it safely through and the Team Sky man retains the yellow jersey.