Cannondale's Peter Sagan won a hard-fought sprint into Santa Clarita today, pipping Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) by a half wheel as today's 177km Tour of California third stage brought a welcome relief from the previous days' horrible heat.

A long final descent saw the Cannondale riders driving the pace to bring back the day's breakaway. Led by Kristijan Koren and Maciej Bodnar, the peloton caught the break with just under 20km to go and set up for a fast dash to the line.

"Ted [King] did a great job today. He pulled on the front all day and took me to the front on the last kilometre. Then for the last five hundred metres, Boivin was the last man," Sagan said. "He took me to the last two hundred meters and I did my sprint. I had a little bit of luck because of the headwind, so it was better to start the sprint later."

Sagan went on to dedicate the win to teammate Mauro Da Dalto, who like many others suffered from the heat on stage two and crashed just before the finish. Da Dalto was treated and released from the area hospital in Palm Springs.

The win is Sagan's ninth of the season, and he builds on his record at the Tour of California with his ninth win in the race.