CHARTRES, France – Peter Sagan thrust an arm and fist forward à la Superman. Chris Froome calmly dropped back to his team car to have his seat adjusted by a mechanic. Other cyclists chatted as they admired the rolling countryside.
With nearly six hours in the saddle and hardly any action until the final stretch, there was plenty of time to relax and fool around Friday during the seventh stage of the Tour de France, the longest of 21 in this year’s race.
“Boring stage,” said Sagan, the three-time reigning world champion. “You’re happy it was a sunny day, no wind, without stress. But it was boring.”
Sagan finished third in the mass sprint with and uphill finish that suited him, and he said he was pleased with the result because he “had no legs to beat the first two guys.”
He was asked how he passed the time up to that point.