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Peter Sagan of Slovakia used a late sprint to the finish to win the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday. Sagan had to regroup after his foot slipped out of the pedal and outdueled Australia's Michael Matthews to earn the eighth stage win of his career.
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Geraint Thomas of Team Sky, who won Saturday's opening time trial, maintained his hold on the leader's yellow jersey, finishing eighth in Monday's stage.
Three-time champion Chris Froome, a teammate of Thomas, is 12 seconds off the lead and in second place overall after finishing one spot behind Thomas in Monday's 132-mile leg that started in Verviers, Belgium, and ended in Longwy, France.
"It was a strange finale," Sagan told the BBC. "At the end I did unclip, I don't know why. I was thinking, 'what's going on?' I was unlucky but I managed to go again and I won. I'm delighted."
World champion Sagan stands fourth overall through three stages, one slot behind Matthews. He had to track down another Australian, pacesetter Richie Porto, en route to victory.
"Well my team did an amazing job today," Sagan said. "It was not easy, it was a lot of stress in the peloton."
After Froome was involved in a crash during Sunday's second leg in the rain, the Team Sky leaders were content to get through the third leg without incident.
"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."
Tuesday's fourth stage of 129 miles will be contested from Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg to Vittel, France.
