Tour de France: Sagan goes long to win in Longwy

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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.

"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."

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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.

"It was a hectic day," Thomas said. "When those three guys got across, the peloton had to speed up a lot. It was not relaxing, so I am happy to get through it with Froomey. One day down, and it’s certainly good to get through days like that unscathed."

How it unfolded

The peloton took of from Philippe Gilbert's hometown Verviers to cover another long 212.5 kilometres. But this time they had sunshine to look forward to, instead of the rain that accompanied them the first two stages.

Adam Hansen, in his 18th consecutive Grand Tour, attacked to spark the day's breakaway. The Lotto-Soudal rider was joined in the group by Nate Brown (Cannondale-Drapac), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie).

Brown took the points on the first of three ranked climbs, the category 4 Cote de Sart. The riders later had a treat as they took a lap on the smooth Formula 1 track at Spa.

The breakaway worked well together but the peloton wasn't willing to let them build up much of a gap. It stayed at around two minutes most of the day.

The race then moved into its second country of the day, Luxembourg. There, Politt easily took the day's only intermediate sprint, and he also claimed the next mountain ranking, the category 4 Cote de Wilzt. Brown chased him and the two battled for points on the next climb 15 km later, the cat. 3 Cote d'Eschdorf, with Brown winning out, moving him into the virtual mountains jersey.

The two then waited for their companions to catch up, and the gap gradually fell over the next kilometres. When their advantage hit less than a minute, three more riders bridge up from the peloton: Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Oscaro). The fresh power moved the gap back up to about 1:20 with 50 km to go, but their chances of making it to the end looked slim.

The three newcomers jumped from the group, soon joined by Hardy. Politt and Brown had hoped to be in the fight for further mountain points but were unable to catch up. As the gap to the four leaders increased, Hansen took off on a solo chase, as Politt fell back into the peloton.

Ag2R La Mondiale captain Romain Bardet dropped back with a mechanical with some 40km left, and the team had to send back two helpers to bring him back up. The tempo in the field had increased, and the French team used up a lot of energy to rejoin.

Up front, Hansen fell back into the peloton, joining most of his former break companions. With 35km to go, the four leaders had a lead of 1:44. Sunweb's veteran Laurens ten Dam put on a show of strength to pull the peloton along in chase.

With 22km left, Hardy, De Gendt and then Perichon threw in the towel, leaving only Calmejane up front to take the third mountain ranking of the day with a 28 second lead over the peloton.

The young Frenchman fought hard but had no chance against the strong-willed peloton, which ruthlessly slashed his gap, catching him with 10 km to go.

The pace was high and the field flew down the long descent leading up to the finale. In the last 1.6km, the climbing started punishing the peloton with an 11% gradient partway up on the tricky run-in to the finish line.

Inside the final kilometre, Porte jumped into the lead, with Contador on his wheel, catching Thomas and Froome out for a moment and looking like he might dance away for an important stage victory. But it was not to be for the pre-race favourite.

"It wasn’t at all [premeditated]," Porte said. "The guys put me in a fantastic position, and I felt good. But then with 500 metres to go, it was a little far out. It was probably out of the question for me once Sagan came up."

Sagan surged to close in and then pass the Australian. Van Avermaet gave chase, along with Martin. Sagan had a moment of panic as his foot slipped from the pedal, but kept his composure and re-accelerated, fending off the late acceleration of Matthews.

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