The width of the thread of a tire

"It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning." ~ Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Fast and Furious

But what if the margin of victory is a millimetre. 0.0003 of a second, or something like that. They had to blow the picture up hundred of times over to tell for sure that Marcel Kittel had beaten Edvald Boasson Hagen in the sprint. The standard photo finish picture looks a draw every time. And until recent technology made such blow up images possible, that is what it would have been.

As it was though, it was the third stage victory of this Tour for the big German who has marked himself out as the fastest man in the sport once again. Of course, it's only natural to ask 'what if?' with regards to a lack of Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan. Boasson Hagens has assumed sprinting duties in place of Cavendish for the Dimension Data team. In doing so he almost snuck the win. Few would have tipped him to go so close. And without wanting to discredit his effort, you have to wonder if Cavendish might have gotten that extra inch?

He may have been short on form while he was at this Tour but I now believe had he not crashed out, Cavendish would have a stage win to his name. But the Tour is full of hypotheticals. All that matters is the reality. And the reality not only shows Kittel with a hat trick of stage wins, but the green jersey upon his shoulders.

The big controversy was the photo finish though. Nobody seen the decisive image that the race jury did. And so once again that jury became the centre of attention. It generates talking points but as I wrote the other day, the Tour moves fast and everything will soon move on. Tomorrow they hit the high mountains at last and there will be enough drama there to steal the show. Everything that has gone before will be resigned to Tour history and memory.