Sagan wins dramatic sprint finish

Shaking off an equipment glitch in the furious finishing sprint, Peter Sagan bagged his eighth career Tour de France stage victory yesterday with an impressive display of power and quick thinking on a short, sharp final uphill dash.

Geraint Thomas of Team Sky retained the yellow jersey he’s held since the opening stage in Germany, as the race swung into France, to Longwy. But he is not planning to hold on to it forever: The team’s goal is for three-time champion Chris Froome to be wearing the jersey when the Tour reaches Paris on July 23.

Thomas and Froome got through stage three unscathed, the main goal for them and others eyeing overall victory rather than stage wins.

The pack of riders stretched into single file on the fast, winding downhill into Longwy before the final climb on Nuns’ Hill that seemed tailor-made for the strengths of Sagan, the world champion.

Australian rider Richie Porte, a contender for overall victory, showed he’s in fearsome form by powering away from the pack in the first stages of the climb. But Sagan was watching closely behind him and never let Porte get too far ahead.

Sagan seemed to be cruising to victory until his right foot slipped out of his pedal in the last few hundred meters.

‘‘I said to myself, ‘What’s happening?’’’ the Slovak star of the German Bora-Hansgrohe team said.

But he quickly recovered without losing speed, clipping his foot back into place and holding off to the line Michael Matthews, an Australian with Sunweb, and Dan Martin, an Irishman with Quickstep.

Froome was ninth on the stage, showing no apparent side effects from a crash on wet roads on Monday that shaved skin off his buttocks. He moved up from sixth to second overall, 12 seconds behind Thomas.

With his long hair, quick humor and taste for showmanship, Sagan is one of the Tour’s most colorful characters. His ultimate goal is to win, for a sixth consecutive time, the green jersey. It isn’t as coveted as the yellow one but is still a solid measure of overall strength.

For the moment, however, Sagan planned to allow himself a celebratory drink.

‘‘You’ve got to celebrate every victory,’’ he said. ‘‘But if I drink alone they call me a drunkard. I prefer to drink with my team-mates.’’

George Bennett was the best of the Kiwis, finishing 20sec off the pace in 44th position