Bryan Coquard nearly hit the deck in the sprint in stage 15 of the Tour de France after an incident with Peter Sagan which cost him a spot in the top 10.

"I did not want the guys to chase before the last climb. I was fine but I was not sure whether we would catch the leaders. I made the right effort, I pushed myself hard on the climb. You saw the images. I was just producing my effort to try and return in the slipstream ahead of Kristoff. There were 250 metres left, I was at full speed and Sagan touched my elbow. While I didn't crash, I had to stop. That's all. It's the sprint. You have to make room for youself but it's normal that I'm irritated. I tried to fight my way ahead, I'm disappointed. There was a lot of work done and in the end, there isn't even a Top 10 for the team. But there were annoying circumstances," he said.

"The condition is there but there won't be much to do before Paris."