Peter Sagan burst into life on the Tour de France when he claimed the fifth stage at the end of a 175.5-km bumpy ride from St. Die des Vosges on Wednesday.
The three-times World champion from Slovakia beat Belgian Wout van Aert and Italian Matteo Trentin in a sprint finish to strengthen his grip on the points classification as he looks to secure a record-breaking seventh green jersey.
“This victory is well deserved for the whole team, they worked very hard all day to control the stage, I want to thank all my team mates,” said the Bora-Hansgrohe rider. “I started my sprint in the right moment. Now I have to keep going.”
Sagan, who now has 12 Tour stage victories to his name, has 144 points in the points classification with Australian Michael Matthews in second place on 97.
France’s Julian Alaphilippe retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after his Deceuninck-Quick Step team helped Bora-Hansgrohe control the pace of the bunch to stay in touch with four breakaway riders.
Alaphilippe leads Van Aert, who picked up a six-second bonus by finishing second, by 14 seconds with Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk.