Peter Sagan shows why he's a shoo-in for an eighth green

On a day he lost the green jersey that wasn't even his in the first place, Peter Sagan showed just why he's the stand-out favourite for yet another points classification triumph.

With Alexander Kristoff in yellow and Mads Pedersen swapping his rainbow stripes for white, the Slovakian was back in his customary maillot vert for stage 2 of the Tour – even though he was only third in the overnight points classification. Such a quirk of fortune meant Sagan wore the green garment for the 125th time out of a possible 144 days of his Tour career – an uncanny record that shows no signs of abating.

If his fourth place in the intermediate sprint in Saturday's sodden opening stage was the best possible return in the wake of the three-man break, then his fifth place at the finish was an indication that Sagan's form this season, and in particular since the restart, was some way below his best.

Yet it also underlined his consistency. Sagan may not win all the time, but he pops up with metronomic regularity in all the sprints – and has an ability to sniff out chances his rivals are unable to grab, turning even a bad day into a net benefit.

Sunday's second stage was a case in point. The 186km loop through the Alpes-Maritimes gave the riders a taste of the first big mountains on only the second day of the race, seemingly causing most of the sprinters to check out even as the peloton rolled along through the neutral zone. But with an intermediate sprint coming just 16km into proceedings, it was not a case of if Sagan would be involved, rather when he would initiate the move.

And so it proved, with Sagan joined by Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Lukas Postlberger to force an eight-man move that also included the Italian Matteo Trentin of CCC Team. Trentin, like Sagan, is a rider capable of getting himself over lumps and bumps – far from a pure sprinter, but a tenacious and opportunist street fighter with a kick.

Trentin had been beaten by Sagan in Saturday's intermediate sprint and turned the tables on his rival on Sunday, taking the maximum 20 points before dropping back to the peloton with a puncture. It's unclear if the Italian won the sprint with a flat tyre. If so, then that's perhaps further proof of Sagan not being his usual self.

But unlike Trentin, Sagan continued in the break – albeit as a bit of a passenger alongside Postlberger until eventually being dropped on the Col de Turini. Before that, though, Sagan was distanced on the Col de Colmiane before fighting back on – and then dominating the descent, much to the delight of the fans watching at home.

The thing with Sagan is that he's a competitor who loves bike racing. He was in the break and so he clearly thought he'd make the most of it – to try to get the condition back in his legs, and enjoy the bits he likes best: the fast downhills.

Not everyone is convinced. Speaking in the Eurosport studio, Bradley Wiggins flagged up Sagan's condition, saying he wasn't in the kind of form we have become accustomed to these past few years.

That may be, but if Sagan can make in-roads in the green jersey competition when he's off the boil, then just you wait until he regains some of his swagger. For while he was riding on the front of the race, his fellow sprinters were pedalling squares in the gruppetto. Whether that will put the likes of Caleb Ewan, Sam Bennett, Giacomo Nizzolo and Elia Viviani in a better position to contest the win in Monday's stage remains to be seen – but so to does their ability to get over the four lower-category climbs ahead of the intermediate sprint and finish in Sisteron.

Sagan's 17 points for taking second place in the intermediate sprint on Sunday saw him move up one position on 46 points in the standings – still 18 points shy of Kristoff, who will swap yellow for green after he came home 26 minutes down.

Trentin is third on 36 points with Bennett on 35 and Sunday's stage 2 winner, Julian Alaphilippe, the new man in yellow, on 30 points. Of these riders, Trentin looks the most likely of putting up some resistance in Sagan's pursuit of an eighth green jersey title in nine years.

Sagan and Trentin are similar riders but you get the impression that the Italian is riding at his optimum level, while the former world champion still has many gears left in reserve. His grasp of the intermediate sprint game, even on stages better suited to the climbers or breakaway artists, makes up for what he may lack as a pure sprinter in the bunch gallops where, even if he fails to win, he will consolidate matters with a top five.

It's for this reason that, although Sagan will start Monday's third stage in his regular trade kit for only the twentieth time in nine participations, he remains the stand-out favourite to be back in green a long time before the race enters Paris.

With the in-form Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma clearly on team duties in his second Tour, and the likes of Ewan, Bennett, Viviani and Nizzolo always a flirtation with the broom wagon away from seeing their race end, Sagan – even a out-of-sorts Sagan, at that – is where the smart money is. His armoury is enough to make his rivals go green with envy.