Rainbows often follow showers, and a rainy day in Normandy ended with Peter Sagan’s rainbow jersey emerging triumphant on the streets of Cherbourg. Julian Alaphilippe pushed the Tinkoff world champion all the way, at first passing him in the sprint, before the Velvet Samurai found a second kick, and came out of the young Frenchman’s wheel to burst for the line. Sagan actually thought he was racing for second place, thinking that there was a rider ahead from the break. (Good to know I wasn’t the only one confused by the race data!) Fittingly, the rainbow gave way, not quite to a pot of gold, but to a yellow jersey and, just like Mark Cavendish yesterday, this is Sagan’s first ever maillot jaune (but almost certainly not his last).
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