Peter Sagan (Cannondale) still leads the points competition with a comfortable lead but yesterday the daily ceremony of presenting the Slovak champion with the green jersey on the podium had to be delayed because Sagan crossed the finish line 22:43 after Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) on a day in which the mission of many riders was to beat the time limit.

“It was a hard stage for everybody,” recounted Sagan to L’Equipe after crossing the finish line. “For many of us, it was essential to avoid exceeding the cut off time.”

Sagan entered the stage with ambitious objectives but soon realized it was not to be on stage that descended into mayhem as soon as the flag dropped.

“At the beginning of the day, I was ready to be part of a break before the first ascent, in order to collect the points available at the intermediate sprint, but once the race got under way, I realized it was going to be a brutal day, so I dismissed the idea of scoring points. I rested a bit the second climb, which allowed me to regain the good feelings for the third," he said.

"It was a tough day, I think, for all. But at the end of the day I believe everybody managed to save his skin.”

Sagan almost got it right on that last point, Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) being the notable exception.