As usual Peter Sagan had positioned himself on Marcel Kittel's wheel in today's bunch sprint at the Tour de France but he found himself caught out when the German didn't even launch his sprint. Instead, the Slovakian had to come from far behind to finish the stage in third.

Peter Sagan again made use of his excellent positioning skills to find Marcel Kittel's wheel in the hectic finale of stage 15 at the Tour de France but this time the Slovakian had made the wrong choice. When the sprint was launched, the German remained in his saddle and so Sagan had to do his own sprint from far back to finish an impressive third.

"It was a bit stressful," he said. "We expected some wind but we got some rain as well. I'm happy this stage is over. It could have been better.

"I was behind Kittel and Greipel was just in front of him… and they haven't sprinted! I don't know why. Then it was too late for me to catch the other sprinters. But I take some more points.

"I also try to avoid crashes and hiccups in order to bring the green jersey to Paris. I'm glad to have a rest but that's for everyone. Maybe we could have no rest day and finish one day earlier in Paris…

"It was a stressful day, especially due to the weather conditions. When I finish stages like this without problems or crashes, I'm happy. I wasn't able to sprint in the best way because in the finale there was too much chaos, I was too far behind and it was too late to sprint.

"I'm happy that the rest day has arrived. We only have six stages left and the advantage in terms of points for the green jersey is good. I hope that nothing happens to me so I can bring it to Paris."