Froome retains the yellow jersey as Sagan wins stage
PETER SAGAN won stage 16 of the Tour de France in a photo-finish ahead of Alexander Kristoff, while Chris Froome stayed safe in the yellow jersey.
After 209 kilometres from Moirans-en-Montagne to Berne, stage honours were settled by a matter of millimetres as world champion Sagan claimed his third stage victory of this Tour and seventh of his career.
It was so close the Slovakian thought he had finished second – for what would have been the 18th time in his career on the Tour – until his team gave him the news.
“I was not waiting for the results, I thought I was second until they came and told me I had won,” Sagan said. “It’s unbelievable. After so many times finishing second... The wheel turns.”
Sagan said he believed Katusha’s Kristoff made a critical error, throwing his bike forward a moment too late.
“It was a crazy finale, very technical,” the Tinkoff rider said. “Everyone wanted to be on my wheel. I think Kristoff made a mistake in the sprint. He jumped very late and that’s how I won.”
Team Sky’s Froome was in the leading pack, finishing 13th, as he and his rivals finished on the same time to maintain the status quo in the general classification heading into Tuesday’s rest day.
Froome leads by one minute and 47 seconds from Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema.
Briton Adam Yates, of Orica-BikeExchange, is third, two minutes and 45 seconds back and leading the young riders’ classification, with Movistar’s Nairo Quintana fourth, a further 14 seconds down.
“The main thing for me and Team Sky was to get me to the finish line in one piece and hopefully not taking any kind of time gaps to my rivals,” Froome said. “It’s another day we can tick off and everyone is grateful we’ve got a rest day tomorrow. We’ll soak that up and look forward to the Alps in the next few days.”
Although this was a relatively flat stage ahead of the Alpine challenges to come, the tight technical finish in the Swiss city of Berne – which included a sharp cobbled climb two kilometres from the finish – was thought to suit the likes of Sagan and so it proved.
However, it was far from straightforward as no one could break clear on the climb and a number of sprinters – including Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel – were still in the leading pack heading down the final straight.
“It was not the time to attack because we were always full gas for sure,” Sagan said. “Everybody had an interest in the sprint.”
But the climb took its toll and when Kristoff opened up the sprint only a few could stay with him.
The Norwegian looked to have all the advantage he needed but Sagan threw his bike forward at the line and snatched a win which all but ends the competition for the points leaders’ green jersey as he now leads from Cavendish by 114.
Sagan briefly gatecrashed Froome’s press conference, and the Team Sky man was full of praise for a rider known as The Terminator.
“He’s a phenomenal rider,” Froome said. “I think most people in the peloton are scared of him. He can do everything.”