Sagan Wins 3rd Stage of the Tour

Sagan with a massive lead before crossing the finish line

The 197km route started from the northern town of Orchies and finished in Boulogne-Sur-Me. As usual, the countryside scenery is spectacular. This beautiful scenery masks the technicality of the route devised by the organizers of this year's tour and the numerous crashes yesterday can attest to this. One of these crashes has forced Team Sky rider Kanstantsn Siutsou to exit early from the Tour.

But the big story of the day is the second stage win by Tour rookie Peter Sagan.

Sagan’s victory was his 15th of the season and the Slovak became the first rider since Tom Boonen in 2004 to pick up multiple stage wins in a debut Tour.

Sagan also extended his lead in the green jersey competition, in which he now holds 116 points to Cancellara’s 74. Cavendish is currently third, on 73. [via Eurosport]

The Stage 1 victory and a strong Stage 2 finish (he finished 6th) definitely boosted Sagan's confidence, so much so that he (or Rory Mason, Cannondale Sports Marketing Director) has decided to take on the nickname "Tourminator".

Is Peter Sagan getting cocky? Well, watch his victory pose and judge for yourself.

In fairness to Sagan, this wasn't entirely his idea.

After that it was a display of pure power by Sagan, as the young Slovak pulled enough of a gap up the hill to do a little victory dance while pedaling to the line.

“The other evening my teammates and I decided that if I won again, I’d do it like Forrest Gump: when they told him to run, he ran; when they tell me to win, I win,” Sagan explained. “I like doing something that makes people smile. When I watch sport on the TV, I’ve always liked it when someone adds a touch of fun to their victories, like [motorcycle racer] Valentino Rossi does. Now that I’m winning, I try to do the same thing.” [via The Epoch Times]

I don't care if Peter Sagan gets cocky, as long as he wins stages. With Mark Cavendish being part of a team that is focused on getting the yellow jersey, Sagan is my bet to get the green jersey. But don't get me wrong. Stage 4 will have another sprint finish and I'm still rooting for Cav to bag this one.

Watch some Stage 3 highlights via The Guardian and the video below.