Peter Sagan (Cannondale) continued his domination of the inaugural edition of the Tour of Alberta when he won today's first stage of the Canadian stage race. A late acceleration by Eric Young (Optum) took the Slovakian by surprise but the race leader produced an impressive burst of speed on the final climb inside the final 500m to come around the fading American who held on for 2nd.

After the stage Sagan indicated that Young may have mistimed his late surge and opened up the sprint too early. Sagan said the wind at the finish provided him with enough time to come around the American.

“Eric started too early, and I saw this, and the sprint, it was wind in the head, so that was good,” said Sagan according to Velonews.com. “I think se started too early, and it was better for me.”

Having also won the prologue, Sagan lead second placed Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) by 23 seconds.