Orica Green Edge's Simon Gerrans was surprised with his victory on the third stage of the 100th Tour De France.
Gerrans beat Sagan by a wheel at the end of a 145.5km stage from Ajaccio to Calvi and told ASO: “I guess I surprised quite a few people a little bit today, including myself. I knew there weren't too many sprinters left in the front group. Peter Sagan is a guy who can often climb with the best climbers and sprint with the best sprinter so I'm really thrilled to be able to beat such a classy rider in a sprint finish like I did today.
“It was a perfectly executed stage today. The plan was to have someone in the breakaway and Simon Clarke did a fantastic job with that; he took all the mountain primes when he was out there and then he was able to pull a turn in the final to chase back that last little group that was off the front. I think also had Cameron Meyer and Michael Albasini riding on the front in the final and Daryl Impey leading me out. He finished off the work for me and I was able to come off him in the last 200 metres and... well, hold off Sagan. It was fantastic. I think I caught him by surprise a little bit – him and a few other guys – but I'm thrilled for Orica-GreenEdge to get a win here at the Tour de France.
“This is a stage that I've been targeting for quite some time. We were down here in Corsica last weekend doing a recon and scouting the finishes and it all paid off today.”