Sagan: I wanted a Tour stage win and I got three

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Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) couldn’t be happier with the results he has taken in his first grand tour. He won three stages and the points competition by a huge margin and while he was a definite pre-race favourite to win the malliot vert, his experienced rivals were never going to make it easy.

"I achieved results in this Tour that went way beyond what I expected. I wanted a stage win and I got three, I wanted the green jersey and I won it. I definitely couldn’t have asked for more," he said.

Sagan was the first of the sprinters to win a stage and when he won the technical finish into Seraing it seemed the likes of Mark Cavendish (Sky), Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) would have to do something special to beat the Slovakian national champion.

"It’s been a wonderful experience that has made me understand that I can always try to win, even on the most difficult terrain," he said.

Just to prove his dominance, Sagan went on the attack and picked up valuable intermediate and finish line points on the mountainous stage 14 when the remaining sprinters were riding in the groupetto. Sagan was the best sprinter in the race but he wasn’t always the quickest. He didn’t need to be, but with many more Tours de France to come, the 22-year-old has time to work on his abilities.

"Sagan is a phenomenon. He took a convincing victory in the points standings and also three stage wins. For me, he has also shown that in the future, he could ride for the overall classification," said race director Christian Prudhomme.