Intro:

Matteo Trentin edged out Peter Sagan to win stage seven of the Tour de France in Nancy on Friday (11 July).

Script:

A crash-marred final sprint ended in a photo-finish between Matteo Trentin and Peter Sagan, with Omega Pharma-Quickstep's Trentin beating the green jersey-holder to the the line by no more than a few centimetres.

Sagan had worked hard throughout the day to get his Cannondale team to the front of the peloton, sprinting aggressively through the dramatic finale to no avail.

The result did not affect the general classification, leaving Astana's Vincenzo Nibali in the overall lead after finishing 16th.

Although unlucky not to claim victory, Sagan's efforts keep him third in the general classification and top of the points classification, thus retaining the green jersey that he has held since the second day.

Trentin's victory came despite the absence of his team mate Mark Cavendish, who retired from the Tour after crashing out in the first stage.

The Italian's only other Tour victory came in stage 14 of the 2013 edition.