World champion Peter Sagan claimed victory on stage two of the Tour de France to take the yellow jersey off the shoulders of Mark Cavendish.
The peloton caught Jasper Stuyven on the approach to the final straight to deny the Trek-Segafredo rider a solo victory, and it was Tinkoff’s Sagan who took it in an uphill sprint from Julian Alaphilippe of Etixx-QuickStep.
SAGAN ça gagne ! / @petosagan over all ! #TDF2016 pic.twitter.com/z8SqEbO4fZ
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 3, 2016
Dan Martin finished fourth (and is now 10th overall) with Chris Froome back in 10th on the stage as gaps appeared further down the peloton.
It was the fifth Tour stage victory – and first since 2013 – for Sagan, who has won the points leader’s green jersey in each of the last four Tours.
Stuyven had been part of the early break along with Bora-Argon 18 duo Cesare Benedetti and Paul Voss, the latter in the King of the Mountain’s jersey, and Vegard Breen of Fortuneo-Vital Concept.
They built a lead of more than six minutes which held until surprisingly late in the day, with the peloton not putting the pressure on until the final 45km.
Benedetti dropped back, but the remaining trio were still 2:20 clear as they headed into the final 10km, only to slow to a crawl when they came to the first of the three short, sharp climbs at the finish.
Stuyven chose his moment to attack, and it looked as though it might hold until the final straight, when the leading chasers began to stream past.
The stage saw two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador suffer a second crash in as many days, falling on to the shoulder he injured on Saturday.
The incident occurred around 60km into the stage, with Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) and Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) also caught in the same incident.
BMC’s Richie Porte suffered a late puncture and also lost time.
