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LONDON -- At this point, the top Tour de France sprint star might be called Sir Marcel. Marcel Kittel, the German with a French first name, led a bunch sprint to win Mondays Stage 3 with a finish on the doorstep of Queen Elizabeths Buckingham Palace. Two days earlier, he courted royal attention as Prince William and Kate saw him win Stage 1 in Yorkshire in another sprint. The stage wrapped up the English debut to this 101st Tour edition, a rousing success among cycling-crazed British fans. Riders hopped on planes and bid "au revoir" to the UK before flying across the English Channel onto the races home turf. Rain in the City of London doused riders at the end of the 155-kilometre (96-mile) ride from the university town of Cambridge to a dramatic finish past landmarks Big Ben and Westminster. Italys Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall leaders yellow jersey with a 2-second lead over the most likely contenders to win the three-week race in Paris on July 27. Svein Tuft was the top Canadian in 138th place, 16 minutes 13 seconds off the lead. Christian Meier, also from Langley, B.C., was 17:31 back in 154th. Kittel, led out perfectly by Giant-Shimano teammates, made it look easy as he sped down a final wide approach on The Mall with Buckingham Palace behind him. Peter Sagan of Slovakia was second and Australias Mark Renshaw was third. "Im really, really happy I could win in front of Buckingham Palace," said Kittel, who won four Tour stages last year. "It was one of the greatest finishes Ive ever seen in front of this great scenery." FIRST PARIS, NOW LONDON The hulking German made it a tale of two cities. He added London glory to his record after also winning on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, in the Tour finale last year. His job in the sprints got a lot easier after Britains Mark Cavendish pulled out of the race after injuring his shoulder in a crash in Saturdays Stage 1. "Its one big opponent that is not in the race anymore," Kittel said. "Of course, that changes things for me, but also for the team." Kittel is no threat for the yellow jersey. Like many sprinters, he struggles on climbs and fell nearly 20 minutes behind Nibali in the overall standings in an up-and-down ride on Sunday through the hills and dales of Yorkshire. Nibalis biggest challengers for the prized leaders shirt remain title-holder Chris Froome of Britain and Spains Alberto Contador, who finished with the same time as the Italian and Kittel in an 84-rider bunch. On Monday, the pack cruised nervously and let two breakaway riders go free on Monday. The duo was caught with about 6 kilometres (4 miles) left. EUROPEAN UNITY AMONG FANS? Tour officials estimated fans made nearly 5 million individual visits -- some may have attended more than one stage -- to the route in the first three stages. In signs of cross-Channel comity, Tour chief Christian Prudhomme took English lessons before the race; Britons waved both French tricolours and their beloved Union Jacks. But the teeming curbs, sidewalks and roadsides again caused trouble for the riders. With about 30 kilometres (19 miles) left, 2010 Tour winner Andy Schleck of Luxembourg was among riders who crashed briefly, and French TV showed a fan on the ground. Schleck, who gingerly returned to the race, said he didnt hit a spectator. "I guess it was my own fault," said Schleck, who collided with another rider and hurtled over his handlebars. His Trek Factory Racing teammate Jens Voigt said: "I saw about 15 crashes today. In the end there were two guys on the ground but I dont know what happened exactly ... Thats the Tour de France. The first week is always nervous." In other spills, Ted King of Cannondale and Jan Bakelants, a Belgian rider on Cavendishs Omega Pharma QuickStep team who wore yellow jersey two days last year, each scraped up their right elbows and knees. Some fans got political. A few held up placards imploring Prime Minister David Cameron not to back a U.S.-European Union free trade pact. Three topless protesters bearing slogans condemning female genital mutilation staged a brief protest near the Houses of Parliament before police bundled them away in fluorescent vests. The course route Monday notably bypassed Trafalgar Square, whose landmark Nelsons Column commemorates a British hero of the Napoleonic Wars. Stage 4 takes riders over 163.5 kilometres (105 miles) from Le Touquet-Paris Plage to Lille Metropole on the border with Belgium. Froomes Team Sky floated the idea that the pack might well ride under the sea rather than fly over it one day, if the Tour ever returns to the UK. The team released a glitzy video Monday saying that last month he became the first man to cycle through the Channel tunnel. In the video, Froome quipped: "This could be a really, really cool stage of a race." Deion Sanders Womens Jersey . - For a general manager who preaches building through the draft, Reggie McKenzie has struggled to find impact players his first two years in Oakland. Julio Jones Youth Jersey . The Brad Jacobs team from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., advanced to Fridays championship game with a 10-6 win over Chinas Rui Liu in the semifinal. http://www.thefaclonsshoponline.com/Chris-lindstrom-falcons-jersey/ . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team. Deion Sanders Youth Jersey . -- Byron Scott is taking over the Los Angeles Lakers with the vocal support of his fellow Showtime greats. Steve Bartkowski Youth Jersey .5 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, a deal that covers his final two arbitration seasons.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - If you were to go head-to-head against Patrick Reed, you better hope that it isnt a Monday. That is Reeds favorite day of the week. As a young professional in 2012, Reed Monday-qualified his way into six PGA Tour events. That was his springboard to the tour. He earned his tour card for 2013, where he earned his first PGA Tour win and he hasnt looked back since. Reed holed out for eagle on the 16th at Kapalua to gain a share of the lead with Jimmy Walker on Monday. The two eventually headed to a playoff, where Reed birdied the first extra hole for his fourth tour title. Seven-for-nine, Reed exclaimed afterward. Meaning he has won, or Monday-qualified, seven of the nine times he competed on Mondays on the PGA Tour. Would you want to battle him on a Monday? Reed wasnt as brash after this win as he had been after winning the WGC- Cadillac Championship last year. After that victory, Reed said, I think Im one of the five-best players in the world. He hasnt reached that lofty perch quite yet, but he has climbed to 14th in the new rankings. Those rankings are fickle and tend to reward consistently good play. Five of the 13 players ranked ahead of Reed have fewer PGA Tour wins, but of that group, only Jordan Spieth has been on tour for a shorter period. This win gave Reed the most victories for any player on tour under the age of 25. It also put Reed in a select group with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia as the only players in the last 20 years with four or more wins at age 24 or younger. Mondays final round didnt start off with Reed in the lead. In fact, he was two back at the outset, and was four back by the time he reached the 15th tee. There were plenty of fireworks down the stretch, though. Reed reached the green at the par-5 15th in two shots and two putts later, his birdie inched him within two as Walker, in the group behind Reed, bogeyed the 14th. Two shots later, Reeds deficit was gone. He holed an 80-yard wedge shot for eagle to vault him alongside Walker at 21-under. But, there were still two holes to play and plenty could happen. Reed missed the green at the 17th and chipped to four feet. However, he missed the short par effort and now needed birdie or eagle at the last hole to force the playoff. He reached the green at the monstrous 18th in two, but was nearly 80 feet from the hole. Reed lagged his eagle try to tap-in range. After the birdie, it was off to the scorers tent to see if Walker would seal the deal. Walker, who parred 17, missed the green at No. 18 and hit a poor chip to boot. He failed to convert his 17-footer for birdie, and that meant he and Reed were headed to a playoff. Reed against Walker, head-to-head, in a Monday playoff. It was almost as if the result was known before they sttarted the extra session.dddddddddddd Reed hit a poor tee shot, but got away with it. Walker hit a worse second shot, and didnt escape. Walker also hit a poor third, opening the door for Reed, who drained a 19-foot putt for birdie and the win. It helped Reed that Walker didnt have his best stuff in the final round, but Reed still needed to rally late in the round to give himself a chance. At any future event Patrick Reed contends in, I wouldnt want there to be any weather delays to push the completion into Monday. You just know Reed would come out on top of that event. WALKER COUGHS UP TITLE CHANCE Walker was going for his fourth PGA Tour win in the last 15 months, but an even-par back nine did him in. And a couple of short putts were to blame. Walker won three times in the 2013-14 season. That helped him soar up the world rankings and earn a spot on his first Ryder Cup team among other things. None of that mattered on Monday. Walker drained a clutch 8-foot par putt on the sixth to keep his round going, but he couldnt keep the momentum on the back nine. Though that par save spurred Walker onto three straight birdies from the eighth, that was all the birdies he could muster the rest of his round. Walker missed a pair of birdie putts from inside 10 feet at the 15th and 16th. If either of those putts fell, he would likely be the champion. Walker had two longer birdie putts, 31 and 17 feet, on the final two holes and failed to convert them. He made a mess of the playoff hole, including knocking his second shot into the grandstands short, right of the green. That opened the door for his 2014 Ryder Cup teammate Patrick Reed to earn his fourth win. Walker did post his 12th top-10 finish in his last 31 PGA Tour starts. That is quite a remarkable turnaround from earlier his career, where he notched 19 top-10 finishes in 187 starts. Obviously, something has started clicking for Walker. Now, he just needs to regain that magic touch from last season. MINI-TIDBITS * The European Tour kicks off its desert swing this week in Abu Dhabi, and does so with a strong field. Four of the top-10 players and five of the top 12 from the latest world rankings are competing this week. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy headlines that group. He will play again in two weeks in Dubai, then will likely be off for a month after that. * Robert Streb entered the third round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions like a pitcher entering the sixth inning of a no-hitter. Streb was bogey-free for 36 holes, the only player in the field who could say that. After some talk about that, Streb proceeded to bogey the first hole of the third round. So much for the no-hitter, and bogey-free tournament. He posted three more bogeys over his final 35 holes en route to sharing eighth place. ' ' '