Tour de France: Sagan nails second victory

By Gilles Le Roc'h

BOULOGNE SUR MER, France (Reuters) - Cycling prodigy Peter Sagan surged in the last turn of a hilly, crash-ridden third stage of the Tour de France to outclass the rest of the bunch and nail his second stage win on Tuesday.

The 197 kms ride to Boulogne sur Mer was as hard fought as expected but, as in Liege two days earlier, the 22-year-old Slovak was again too strong for the opposition.

Timing his move to perfection, he left no chance to Norway's Edvald Boasson-Hagen and fellow-Slovak Peter Velits, who had to be content with the podium spots.

On the line, Sagan crossed himself and made a bizarre celebration gesture he said was an imitation of Tom Hanks's stride in Forrest Gump.

"I'm like Forrest Gump. When they told him to run, he ran. Today, my team mates told me to win. And I won," he said.

The Slovak explained he was a fan of motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi, also prone to spectacular gestures when he won and the comparison also holds in terms of sheer power.

There was a sharp contrast in the final stretch between Sagan's celebrations and the misfortunes of some other leading names in this Tour.

Overall favorite Bradley Wiggins had to put a foot down when team mate Christopher Froome tumbled into the barriers ahead of him, also forcing Australian Michael Rogers to brake sharply.