Liquigas-Cannondale's Peter Sagan managed to retain the Green Jersey on Friday, beating out the field with a time of 4 hours 37 minutes and pushing his tour-leading points total to 209. Sagan, who sits at No. 8 in the overall classifications, takes his first bunch sprint victory despite a large crash earlier in the stage. According to analyst Douglas Ansel of Podium Cafe, the crash overshadowed Sagan's win:
A big crash occurred in the middle of the peleton [in the final 20 km] as riders were traveling at approximately 70kph, bringing down a number of major contenders for the overall classification ... The crash caused a major split at a crucial point in the race, so those involved or held up by the crash were unable to rejoin the peleton before the finish. Most overall contenders involved finished the stage 2 minutes down on the leaders, but several - most notably Robert Gesink and Ryder Hesjedal - finished even further down.
Chicagoan Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-Sharp finished at position No. 172 of 190 with a time of 4 hours 50 minutes and 24 seconds as he was unfortunately involved in the crash. Meanwhile, Fabian Cancellera maintained his overall lead with a 4 hours 37 minutes 4 seconds finish.
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