The lead-in to the finish line was like a re-enactment from the late Noughties, with the Dimension Data sprint train of Bernhard Eisel, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Mark Renshaw recalling the dominant HTC-Highroad team that guided Cavendish to stage wins in 2008 and 2009.
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Wearing the yellow jersey, Peter Sagan considered stopping at a cafe.
Only cycling’s greatest ever star, Eddy Merckx – like Hinault a five-times Tour de France victor – has racked up more stage victories, with 34.
Greipel’s three-man Lotto-Soudal train took over the lead, and released ‘The Gorilla’ with around 300 metres to go ahead of the slightly uphill finish.
“I know when I win and lose a photo finish and I thought I had it but I still had to wait”, he said.
Greipel started celebrating, raising his left finger to the sky, but then quickly took it down.
Overhead cameras suggested Cavendish had nicked it and the race jury later confirmed the Manxman had triumphed by the width of a tyre.
The 223.5km third stage from Granville to Angers is pan flat but Sagan could be in for a frosty reception from fellow riders following his vociferous attack on the peloton on Sunday evening.
“He took me by surprised but I’m happy I did it, my team-mates were phenomenal”.
“I’ve won and lost stages by smaller margins before”, he said. I knew he would hit out.
World champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) from Slovakia retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after finishing fourth behind Bryan Coquard of France. He had an easier day yesterday by virtue of the bunch’s decision to go slow for much of the stage prior to reeling in the two riders out front, Armindo Fonseca (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie).
Cavendish started the day with a four-second lead over Marcel Kittel, with Sagan in third place, six seconds behind. “Just the last 20-30 kilometres were hard”.
Fonseca needed just 25 kilometers to push his advantage to double digits, but his speed remained under an average of 40 kilometers per hour―a clear sign the peloton wasn’t trying to catch him. “Tomorrow will be a long day”.
It was Sagan’s fifth stage win on a Tour, and his first since 2013.
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Tuesday’s fourth stage, the longest of this year’s Tour with 237.5km from Saumur to Limoges, will provide the sprinters with another chance before the race heads into the mountains.
