Peter Sagan had been tipped as a potential joker for today's first mountain stage of the Tour de France but the Slovakian eased up pretty early. Having tried to make it into the early break, he decided to save energy for later.

Today's first mountain stage offered a short, steep climb to the finish. While it was mostly tipped to suit the GC riders, Peter Sagan was an outside bet as he has won similar races in the past.

However, Sagan eased up as soon as the peloton hit the first climb but it was not a pre-race plan for him to take it easy. Instead, he went into the stage with an open mind before ultimately determining to save his energy.

"I felt good today," he said. "I was just happy to relax in the grupetto till the finish. This morning, I didn't have a clear plan. Firstly, I tried to catch a breakaway, soon after that, another group was gone. With five riders in the lead, I decided to take it easy. It was better for me considering the difficulty of the finale."