Video: Sagan's epic fight for Gaviria's wheel in Vuelta San Juan final sprint

Peter Sagan puts his shoulder and head into one of the Israel Start-up Nation riders leading out Rudy Barbier in the sprint on stage 7 of Vuelta a San Juan last night. Sagan fought for a long time for Fernando Gaviria's wheel. While he eventually latched onto the Colombian after a robust final kilometre he didn't have the legs to beat him

Peter Sagan put in a dogged fight to get the wheel of Fernando Gaviria in last night's final sprint at Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina.

The Bora-hansgrohe rider, and three-time world road race champion, elbowed and shouldered his rivals in the fight for space and even threw the head in when it really counted.

At one point just inside the final kilometre, as the video below begins, he was squeezed from both sides by two riders; using both elbows at the same time to try and push them away.

When that failed he was forced behind them but his expert bike handling saw him ahead of both riders within a few pedal strokes.

He then got into a scrap with one of the Israel Start-Up Nation riders as the sprint was just about to kick for the finish line.

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And though he won that fight and latched onto the wheel of Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), the young Colombian was too fast for him and Sagan had to settle for 2nd place.

The fight for position probably took a lot more out of Sagan than he would have liked.

He may not have won but it's still interesting to see just how robust the action gets in the tightly-packed bunch as the chequered flag beckons.

Remco Evenepoel found himself well down in the crosswinds of stage 5 but fought back to the front and held his leader's jersey on the hilly queen stage

As Gaviria won the stage in a bunch sprint there was no change overall; Remco Evenepoel claiming the outright win.

The Belgian riding for Deceuninck-QuickStep, and who celebrated his 20th birthday last week, claimed the stage 3 TT last Wednesday.

He then battled to finish 5th on the queen stage on Friday to ensure he held his leader's jersey all the way into San Juan last night Irish time.