Peter Sagan pips Alexander Kristoff in stage 16 to take third win in Bern

Race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) was present alongside his rivals in a reduced peloton of 33 riders which made it to the top of a punchy cobbled climb in the Swiss capital ahead of a thrilling sprint between the peloton's fast men.

Tinkoff's Sagan, wearing the green jersey as runaway leader of the points classification, had just enough left in the tank to deny Katusha's Kristoff a first win in this year's Tour but it took a photo finish to confirm who took the spoils.

A second Norwegian, Sondre Holst Enger of IAM Cycling, took an impressive third place ahead of Germany's John Degenkolb (Giant Alpecin) and Australia's Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange) at the conclusion of a stage which saw Etixx-QuickStep duo Julian Alaphilippe and Tony Martin ride in a breakaway ahead of the peloton for more than 150 kilometres.

Local favourite Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) had to settle for sixth place in his native Bern ahead of LottoNL-Jumbo's Sep Vanmarcke, the Belgian classics specialist who led the streamlined pack up the decisive cobbled climb at the business end of the sweltering 209-kilometre stage from Moirans-en-Montagne in the Jura department of France.

"It was a very long stage and very hot," said 26-year-old Sagan of a day that saw the mercury push 30 degrees. "I'm so happy and so proud of my team. They did a great job and I'm really happy to win for them, Tinkoff, and for Oleg [Tinkov - the team's owner].

"So many times I failed to win on the Tour and now I have three wins this year. I believe in destiny," said Sagan, who prior to this July had not won a stage on the world's biggest bike race since 2013.

Sagan's latest victory extended his near-insurmountable lead in the green jersey competition that he has won for the past four successive editions.

Resplendent in his own yellow jersey, Sky leader and defending champion Froome was very much visible in the final sprint, monitoring a surge by Spanish rival Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) before finishing safely to retain his 1:47 lead over Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) ahead of the race's second rest day.

Another Briton, Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange, completes the current podium 2:45 adrift of Froome, while Movistar duo Nairo Quintana and Valverde complete the top five ahead of the final Alpine chapter of the 103rd edition of the race.

"Everyone's quite glad it's a rest day tomorrow because it was really tough out there today," said Froome, who enters the final phase of the race as odds-on favourite to snare his third Tour victory in Paris next Sunday.

"I'm pretty tired but I'm looking forward to the Alps. I'm motivated, the team is great and in fantastic shape. Morale is high, we still have nine riders and that's a big advantage for us."

Break: In what was hardly a ringing endorsement for Marcel Kittel’s chances in the Swiss finale, Etixx-QuickStep duo Julian Alaphilippe and Tony Martin broke the deadlock by surging clear of the pack after 13 kilometres.

Given Martin’s time trialling ability and Alaphilippe’s panache it was no huge surprise that the pack kept the leading duo on a tight leash with the leaders struggling to open up any significant gap as a host of riders tried to bridge the gap.

LottoNL-Jumbo, the inexperienced Dutch team featuring five Tour debutants and four other riders boasting only nine previous Tour appearances between them, were particularly active with Paul Martens and Bert-Jan Lindeman both having a pop before Frenchman Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) also failed to make a connection.

When a third LottoNL-Jumbo rider, Timo Roosen, tried his luck after an opening hour in which the two leaders had covered a staggering 49.5 kilometres, he was joined by Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Vegard Breen (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) in a chasing quartet which was finally given some leeway by the peloton.

Turning point: The gap of the two leaders grew to a maximum six minutes with 125 kilometres remaining as the chasing quartet decided to sit up after failing to make any inroads ahead of the crossing into Switzerland.

Martin and Alaphilippe combined well, with the German powerhouse doing the lion’s share of the pulling – particularly on the flat sections suited to his time trialling pedigree. But with so many teams in the hunt for a stage win ahead of the Alps, it was no surprise that their lead was gradually whittled down to less than a minute.

Alaphilippe was first to call it a day, the Frenchman – already on the attack in Sunday's stage 15 – throwing in the towel on the only categorised climb of the day, the Cat.4 Cote de Muhleberg 25 kilometres from the finish. Martin soon followed and the pair were soon spotted off the back of the peloton alongside Etixx team-mates Kittel and Iljo Keisse.

Portugal’s Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) counter attacked to build up a slender lead of 15 seconds approaching Bern but the former world champion – a triple winner of the Tour de Suisse – was swept up with five kilometres remaining.

Finale: IAM Cycling and BMC – the two Swiss-registered teams on the WorldTour – were unsurprisingly present as the race entered Bern but it was LottoNL-Jumbo who came to the fore ahead of the cobbled climb into the old town.

Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) powered ahead but was reeled in by Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale-Drapac) while Frenchman Warren Barguil pulled hard on the front of the pack for Giant-Alpecin team-mate John Degenkolb.

As the climb flattened out under the flamme rouge it was Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde who first tested his legs from a select group of 30-odd riders.

But the powerful sprinters soon came to the front with Sagan going shoulder-to-shoulder with Kristoff to contest the win. In front of hundreds of Slovakia fans watching at the finish, Sagan won the day thanks to a superior bike lunge – leaving Kristoff to bang his handlebars in frustration at another missed opportunity.

It was Kristoff’s second runner-up spot in this year’s race and Sagan’s third victory. As for Messrs Alaphilippe and Martin – they were the last two riders home, 12:20 down on the world champion.

With a hat-trick of wins in the bag, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) has also cracked the 400-point barrier in the battle for the green jersey. The Slovakian’s tally of 405 points is just 27 shy of his record haul from 2015 and more than 100 clear of his nearest rival Mark Cavendish, the Dimension Data sprinter who had to settle for 23rd place on Mandela Day.

Alexander Kristoff (second) and Andre Greipel (forty-fourth) will now have to wait until the Champs-Elysees to break their respective ducks in this year’s race. Still without a win, the Norwegian is in the ascendency while the German’s morale is rock bottom.

The second rest day is followed by Wednesday’s mountainous stage in Switzerland, which is back-loaded with a two leg-sapping ascents.

After two uncategorised climbs the riders pass the UCI headquarters at Aigle before tackling the Col de la Forclaz (13km at 7.9%) – last used in the Tour in the late 70s – and then continuing up to the spectacular Émosson dam, whose still waters should reflect Mont-Blanc on the horizon.

It's the Tour's first call on a challenging climb (10.4km at 8.4%) where Alberto Contador distanced a bloodied Chris Froome during a 2014 Dauphiné stage won by Lieuwe Westra. A final double-digit ramp should see the battle for yellow intensify.