[Sport] Coverage: Specific live radio and text commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport website and app.

[ITS OZX-]

Peter Sagan, a seven-time green jersey winner, took second place but fell to the final division with 13 points in the sprint race after overtaking Woot Van Airt late.

Irishman Sam Bennett has been promoted to second place and leads Sagan on the scoreboard with 68 points.

Primoz Roglic from Jumbo-Visma stays clear for 21 seconds in yellow.

"It was very, very hard," said Ewan after Wednesday's victory.

“I knew to stay calm and wait for the proper gap to open - and it happened after a long time.

"I did a big throw and then you were looking at the ground, so I wasn't sure I had won."

The stage was started by former French rider Francois Lemarchand, in place of race director Christian Prudhomme, who is quarantined after testing positive for coronavirus.

Bennett had already strengthened his grip on the green jersey when he claimed second spot behind breakaway leader Matthieu Ladagnous at the intermediate sprint.

Even so early in the Tour's three-week itinerary, the pressure seemed to tell on Sagan and his team after Landagnous was swallowed up and the finish loomed.

Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Lukas Postlberger shot off the front with 6km to go in an attempt to disrupt their rivals' plans before the Slovak barged Van Aert tight to clear his finish in thely contested.

His manoeuvre was subsequently punished by the race judges to leave him with it all to do to overhaul Bennett as the race heads for the mountains.

The peloton was also reduced in number with Astana's Ion Izaguirre suffering a nasty crash in the final 30km and Bora-Hansgrohe's Gregor Muhlberger feeling increasingly unwell at the back of the pack. Both subsequently abandoned.

Thursday's stage features four categorized climbs as the race takes a 218km route from Chauvigny to Sarran in the heart of the France.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by ✘-Free-palestine-✘