Tour de Farce: Another busy day in the life of Peter Sagan

It was an extraordinary Tour de Force from the 25-year-old Slovakian who starred on the climbs, in the break and then during a frantic finale.

Of course, before the stage start in Mende there was much mirth generated from the fact that Sagan had notched four second-place finishes this year – part of a winless sequence on the Tour that has now stretched back two years in which he’s been the bridesmaid an astonishing 15 times.

Affable bike hunk Juan Antonio Flecha teed things up in the start town with an interview with Lotto-Soudal trio Lars Bak, Thomas De Gendt and Adam Hansen. Predictably, they joked that Sagan would finish second in Valence behind their man Andre Greipel.

Mark Cavendish got involved in the biking banter with his own two centimes on the issue of Sagan’s sloppy seconds…

Meanwhile, Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff – like Sagan, still winless this year, yet unlike Sagan, practically invisible since Utrecht – waded in on the debate, telling Eurosport that he hoped his rival would be tired from his exertions in the break of Saturday’s stage 14 to Mende.

Too tired to go on the attack? Who’s Kristoff kidding? This is Sagan we’re talking about – and when 27 riders rocketed off the front on the first climb of the day, the chunky tyro was present and correct.

In fact, it was Sagan and his Aussie colleague Mick Rogers who then forced the fresh break of nine riders to edge clear over two back-to-back fourth category climbs.

Once in the valley below, Sagan did what he does best and plundered maximum points in the intermediate sprint to strengthen his bid to become the only rider in history to have won the green jersey in his first four Tours.

He then showed off his supreme bike handling skills on the descent of the Col de L’Escrinet when an unmarked central reservation appeared after a blind bend and threatened to cause minor carnage.

With the peloton closing in, Sagan went into Plan B mode, took his foot off the gas and dropped back to the peloton to prepare for the expected bunch sprint. These preparations involved a bike switch, which our hero managed to do – but not before lashing out at a moto camera man with a stray foot after the latter encroached somewhat on his personal space.

While Twitter was awash with ‘Sagan for the combativity award’ japes, one fellow pro had some words of support to the beleaguered Sagan – who can’t seem to breathe without attracting the same kind of attention as celebrities buying coffee or showing off their toned beach bodies.

Sagan’s kick was followed up by mechanic, who launched a water bottle at the offending cameraman once he’d packed Sagan off on his bike.

Well, it was another sweltering day in France – perhaps he was concerned the man might get dehydrated?

Both incidents were defended by one of Tinkoff-Saxo’s directeur sportifs later on – although even WE don’t fully underStand the use OF random capitals in sTeven de Jongh’s tweet.

To make matters worse for Sagan’s team, the directeur sportif driving the car at the time – Sean Yates – has been given a one-day ban from driving on the Tour even though the offending party was clearly the mechanic.

Of course, Twitter swallowed up the bidon-throwing bonanza in a manner with the same gusto as you’d expect from Danilo Napolitano being unleashed on an all-you-can-eat buffet.

And Peter wasn’t over. Fast forward 36 kilometres and Sagan was trying his best not to finish second Sagain. So when spunky French upstart Bryan Coquard swerved across the road in the finale, it was no surprise to see Sagan holding his ground to flounder his young rival.

“I’m irritated,” said Coquard after he sought out Sagan at the finish for an explanation. “I was at full speed and Sagan touched my elbow. I didn’t crash but I lost my balance. In the end the team worked hard but we don’t even have a top ten to show for it – just annoying circumstances.”

Judging the look on Sagan’s face, there was only every going to be one winner in that scuffle kerfuffle…

Sagan eventually finished fourth in the final sprint to secure his tenth top five finish in this year’s race – prompting praise from his rent-a-quote team manager.

Oh, and it goes without saying that Sagan did indeed win the prize for the day's most combative rider - and that was nothing to do with his aggressive stare-down of the floppy Coquard.

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In a nutshell: Two testing climbs in the second half of the stage preceded a fast downhill run to the finish in the foothills of the Alps.

History: The likes of Rui Costa, Thor Hushovd, Sergio Paulinho, Pierrick Fedrigo, Alexandre Vinokourov and Erik Zabel have all won in Gap in the past 20 years. Portuguese former world champion Costa's win was the most recent - and the first of two mountain victories in the final week of the 2013 Tour for the former Movistar all-rounder. Shame he’s no longer around to feature on Monday…

Believe it or not: The stage starts in the drably named Bourg-de-Péage, which literally means Tollbooth Town. Still, it's better than the name of the intermediate sprint town - Die - which we sincerely hope will not be taken literally. Although Peter Sagan could kill off the hopes of his green jersey rivals, for sure.

Did you know: Canadian Ryder Hesjedal has twice crossed the summit of the Col de Manse in pole position - in 2011 and 2013. The summit of the second-category climb comes 12 from the finish in Gap today. It’s one of the few climbs renowned more for its descent than ascent.

Look out for: Alberto Contador edging clear on the final descent: the Spaniard did just that in 2011 to take over a minute from rival Andy Schleck, who later criticised Tour organisers for including such a technical descent so close to the finish in Gap. Contador showed similar downhill skills in June's Route de Sud race, while if it's raining, no one is better as negotiating a testing descent than Vincenzo Nibali.

Plat du Jour: The locals can't get enough of their deep-fried tourtons - small, ravioli-style square fritters filled with spinach, potatoes, prunes or apples. Ravioles du Champseur are also popular - deep fried dumpling-style croquettes filled with wild spinach in spring, trout or nettles in the summer, foie gras and chestnuts in the winter.

Tour tipple: The Haute-Alpes produces mainly table wine but in the nearby Alpes de Haute-Provence there are some highly regarded wines including the Rouge Reserve from Domaine La Blaque, and their popular rosé, Tradition.