World Champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the hard-fought battle for the stage victory on the third stage of the Tour de France, taking out the uphill finish into Longwy ahead of a hard-charging Michael Matthews (Sunweb). Dan Martin (QuickStep Floors) was a plucky third place on the Côte de Religieuses.
The difficult, twisting climb to the finish line was not expected to provide a test for the GC men, but Richie Porte (BMC Racing) nonetheless attacked and briefly opened up a gap on his rivals. He had one problem: Peter Sagan, who put on a burst of speed to close him down.
Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) accelerated onto Sagan's wheel when world champion's foot suddenly slipped off his pedal, but Sagan recovered quickly and was able to re-accelerate and take the victory. Matthews put on a real show of strength to move up on the right-hand side but crossed the finish line millimetres behind Sagan.
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"It was a pretty hard climb," Sagan said of the finish. "BMC did a good job for Richie and after he attacked in the last 800m, he got a little gap. After, I decided to go - I guess it was too early - it was 400m to go. It was far away, in the moment, I said 'fuck, again too early'. Then I started my sprint, and as I pushed - I pulled my feet out from the cleat. It was another mistake, I was like, 'what is happening today?' - after I that I won. Matthews almost beat me, but I am very happy for this victory and thank you Bora-Hansgrohe."
The results brought few changes in the GC, as expected, even if Porte's attack gave Team Sky a bit of a start. Geraint Thomas (Sky) held on to his lead, while teammate Chris Froome moved up to second, at 12 seconds. Matthews propelled himself to third, also at 12 seconds, and Sagan moved up to fourth, one further second down.
"We went into the climb a little far back so had to move up before the corner as Richie attacked," Thomas said, "and we stayed around that position all the way to the line. All the boys were working then Kwiato [Michal Kwiatkowski] was last then to guide me and Froomey up the last bit.
How it unfolded
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