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Sam Bennett took some points back in his fight for the Tour de France green jersey as the race hit the Pyrenees yesterday on stage 8.
With the Col de Peyresourde the last of three major climbs yesterday, sprinter Bennett and Sagan were never going to feature in the points at that finish.
And that meant a battle between them at the intermediate sprint, before the climbs were reached, was inevitable even if a breakaway was up the road at the time.
When the peloton reached that sprint, after 42km, just two and one points remained on offer as the breakaway had mopped up the rest.
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Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep), along with Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), shot off the front of the bunch to scrap for the points; Bennett taking two and Coquard one, with Sagan next and just out of the points.
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It meant Bennett closed the gap on Sagan a little in the green jersey contest; starting the stage nine points down on the three-time world champion but trailing him by just seven at stage-end.
While Sagan was still in the green jersey at the end of the day, he said Bennett is faster than him and it was going to be hard for him to beat the Irish cyclist for the green jersey.
"Yesterday I had a chance to make a big gap but had bad luck in the end," he said of Friday's stage 7 when his team ensured Bennett and the other sprinters were dropped before the intermediate sprint.
However, while Sagan took 2nd in that sprint, he could only manage 13th in the sprint finish, due to a slipped chain, and so the opportunity to gain a lot of points on his Irish rival passed him by.
"I have to be patient and see day by day. The Tour is going to be very hard and I’ll fight for the points jersey not only on the flat stages - also on the mountains," said Sagan.
"But, you know, most intermediate sprints are before the climbs. On those circumstances, it’s going to be hard to beat Sam Bennett head to head. He is faster than me on a short distance. I’m proud to be in green… for now."
There's another intermediate sprint on Sunday's stage 9, coming after 99km and immediately after two climbs; the 11.8km Col de la Hourcere, a cat 1 at 8.3 per cent, and the cat 3 Col du Soudet, which is 3.8km at 7.4 per cent.
After those climbs, and the intermediate sprint, the
riders face the cat 3 Col d’Ichere – 4.5km at 6.1 per cent – and the Col de
Marie Blanc, which is a cat 1 at 7.3km in length and 8.7 per cent.
Whether Sagan or Bennett could be in contention for the intermediate sprint is open to question, unless they could go in a breakaway. However, depending on how the stage is raced on Sunday, it is far from impossible that they could take points.
If neither gain points on Sunday they would have the rest day on Monday followed by what looks like a nailed-on sprint stage on Tuesday when they would renew hostilities, and Bennett may even take the victory.
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