Only a couple of centimetres divided Peter Sagan from his first victory at the Tour de France 2013 as the 3rd stage ended in a sprint decision that was almost too close to call.

On the finish line of the the leader of Cannondale Pro Cycling came within a whisker of defeating Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) after a photo finish check. The Slovak champion was left with a bitter taste in his mouth, alleviated only by assuming the leadership in the points classification where Sagan has 74 points – 17 more than Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano).

"I can't be happy with this result but I have to accept it" affirmed Sagan. "Thanks to my teammates, they did a great job to support me today. I'm still feeling the effects of the crash, today more than yesterday. On the other hand, I'm satisfied with the green jersey. I know it will be hard to keep until the finish, every day can happen something at Tour, but I'll try. I have to chase my goal day by day. Now the most important thing is to recover in the best way and feel better."