LA ROCHE-SUR-YON, France - A year after leaving the Tour de France in disgrace, Peter Sagan earned the race's yellow jersey Sunday by doing what he does best: Powering past the competition to reach the finish line.
The winner of cycling's world championship three years running, Sagan took the overall lead at the Tour after he bettered about a dozen other sprinters to win the 21-stage race's second leg.
The 28-year-old Slovakian's ninth career stage win at the Tour came just more than a year since he was disqualified from cycling's most prestigious event after race officials ruled he caused the wreck that broke Mark Cavendish's shoulder.
Sagan, however, said there was no revenge factor in mind, and that just wearing yellow was reason enough to celebrate.
"Revenge? I already forgot about last year," Sagan said. "I'm just happy I can be in the Tour de France, the biggest race in the world."
Chris Froome, who fell into a ditch near the end of Saturday's opening stage, arrived safely with most of the peloton and was 1:07 behind overall. He is trying to win a record-tying fifth Tour title.
Sagan came up short in the opening stage's sprint when he crossed second behind Fernando Gaviria, a 23-year-old Colombian who won in his Tour debut. The second stage looked like it would feature another duel between the veteran and the new star, but Gaviria was involved in a pileup inside the three-kilometer zone that neutralizes the impact of accidents - results are frozen - and could do nothing to stop Sagan from taking a six-second overall lead.
"We expected some crashes in this tricky final and moved up early," said Enrico Poitschke, sports director of Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team. "This proved to be important as we were able to avoid the last crash. Everything turned out perfect."
Sagan moved to the front of the small bunch hunting for position, reaching a speed of 35 mph during the final 500 yards. With Sonny Colbrelli about to catch him, Sagan thrust forward to ensure victory.
"It was really a hard sprint. It was climbing a little bit in a headwind, and already the last five kilometers were up and down. It was a mess," Sagan said. "I was a bit scared because Sonny was coming back strong."
Sagan won the mostly flat 113.4-mile leg from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to La Roche-sur-Yon in 4 hours, 6 minutes, 37 seconds.
Title contenders Romain Bardet, Tom Dumoulin and Vincenzo Nibali are 16 seconds behind Sagan, giving them an early advantage over Froome. BMC's Richie Porte is level with Froome with their respective teams looking to do well in Monday's team time trial.
Ethiopia's Tsgabu Grmay became the first rider to abandon the race. His Trek-Segafredo team said he was suffering "intense abdominal pain." Astana climber Luis Leon Sanchez later called it quits after he fell and bloodied his left arm.