Stage 7

The road

At the start

The second-longest day, to Nancy

Two hundred and thirty-four kilometres from Épernay to Nancy, the longest day of this Tour bar one, and nearly all of it flat — until the Côte de Maron seventeen kilometres out and the Côte de Boufflers six from the line. Enough to trouble the pure sprinters, and to interest Peter Sagan, twice a runner-up already and still without a stage. Nibali defends two seconds over Fuglsang.

How it was won

1. 117 km to go

   The sting in the tail

   Huzarski and Elmiger are swept up at the foot of the Côte de Maron and Omega Pharma sweep past Orica at a pace that drops Kittel and Greipel out of the day. Voeckler attacks and is caught before the summit; on the descent Van Garderen crashes and has to chase back on a teammate's bike.

2. 26 km to go

   Sagan and Van Avermaet slip away

   Gautier attacks the last climb in his teammate Voeckler's image; once he is caught, Van Avermaet goes, Sagan goes with him, and the pair open a real gap on the plunge towards Nancy.

3. 32 km to go

   Sagan sits up

   With less than two kilometres left the green jersey glances back, sees the field bearing down at 50km/h and gives it up. Moments later a crash on one of the final corners guts the bunch to twenty riders.

4. 4At the line

   A photo finish for Cavendish's team

   Talansky somersaults into the barriers as the sprint opens. At the line it takes a photograph to separate them — and once again Sagan comes up short, Matteo Trentin winning by the width of a tyre.

The result