Sagan clinches another Tour de France stage

QUIMPER, France: Slovakia’s Peter Sagan clinched his second stage win of the 2018 Tour de France, beating Sonny Colbrelli and Philippe Gilbert at the up hill finish of stage five.

Defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) and the other overall contenders finished in or close to the main group as overnight leader and Olympic road race champion Greg Van Avermaet ( BMC) retained the yellow jersey.

Belgian Philippe Gilbert sparked the hostilities early on the uphill finish of the 204.5km ride from Lorient, but the Quick- Step rider failed to open up a significant gap on the chasing bunch.

Van Avermaet, wearing the yellow jersey, then pulled to the front in a bid for the stage win as the finish line approached but peaked too early. The race leader was left powerless when Sagan sped past on his left.

Colbrelli pushed the Slovakian all the way but, as hedi don stage two, finished second best.

Sagan said following the yellow jersey had helped land him the stage.

“I’d like to thank Greg (Van Avermaet) because he did me a favour when he went for it, I don’t know if he did it on purpose but he dropped a lot of people,” said Sagan, who has tightened his grip on the points classification’s green jersey.

Asked if it would be a battle all the way to Paris with Fernando Gaviria for the green jersey prize, Sagan said: “I hope not!”