Andre Greipel won a thrilling sprint finish to clinch Stage 15 of the Tour de France on Sunday.
The German collected his third stage victory of this year's Tour in the final kilometer of the 183km ride from Mende to Valence after emerging from a four-way battle first to the line.
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The Lotto-Soudal team rider inched ahead of John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) third and fourth, respectively.
Greipel earned 50 points for the win, but Sagan retains the green jersey for the sprint classification.
General classification leader Chris Froome made it safely to the line and remains three minutes and 10 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
Froome had a cup of urine thrown at him by a spectator during Stage 14, and has faced scrutiny in the media over his excellent performances so far as cycling struggles to shake off doping controversies of the past.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme backed Team Sky's leader, though, saying: "There is a correlation between what is said in the papers, on TV, on the radio, and what happens by the side of the road.
"They set the tone and people believe what they see in the media."
A difficult climb up the Col de l'Escrinet saw Sagan among seven of the original nine-man break swallowed up by the peloton, as Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) attempted to go on alone.
With 30km of flat roads remaining, the pair were swallowed up as the sprinters jostled into position.
Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quickstep) ambitiously attempted to break free in the final three kilometers, but he ran out of steam.
The front four then emerged and battled it out coming into the final bend, and it was Greipel who did just enough to win the bunch sprint.