Peter Sagan has outsprinted the competition to take the fifth stage of the Tour de France, his second stage win this year. Greg Van Avermaet retained the yellow jersey after finishing the stage in seventh place.Slovakian cyclist Peter Sagan on Wednesday picked up his second stage win at this year’s Tour de France, outsprinting Italy’s Sonny Colbrelli and Belgian Philippe Gilbert to win stage five.
Sagan waited until after the stage’s final punchy climb before sprinting to the finish. He finished the hilly, 204.5 kilometer (127.1 miles) stage through Brittany — from Lorient to Quimper — in 4 hours, 48 minutes and 6 seconds.
Sagan, who won his third consecutive road race championship last year, rode to victory in Sunday’s flatter second stage.
Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium, wearing the yellow jersey, took advantage of an intermediate bonus sprint to add two seconds to his overall lead — ahead of BMC teammate Tejay van Garderen of the United States.
Chris Froome, who is attempting to win a fifth straight Tour de France, finished in the middle of the pack in 14th and is 57 seconds behind Van Avermaet in the overall standings.
Another hilly stage awaits the cyclists on Thursday, this time a 181-kilometer stretch from Brest to Mur-de-Bretagne Guerledan.
dv/pfd (AP, Reuters)