André Greipel sprints to hat-trick with stage 15 victory in Valence

Greipel, the 33-year-old veteran from Lotto-Soudal, once again showed he is the fastest man in the Tour with a comfortable win over compatriot John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Slovakia's Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Britain's Mark Cavendish - reportedly suffering with a stomach bug - was unable to contest the fast finish of the 183km fifteenth stage after the Etixx-Quickstep sprinter was tailed off on a punchy third-category climb shortly after the start of the stage from Mende.

Race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished safely in the peloton to retain his 3:10 lead over Colombia's Nairo Quintana (Movistar) ahead of five days the Alps.

Sagan was part of a nine-man breakaway that extricated itself from an initial 27-man group on the rolling opening third of the stage, the 25-year-old clearly eager to consolidate his lead in the green jersey competition and perhaps finally end the hoodoo that had seen him finish second on four occasions this July.

With the Katusha team of Kristoff – another rider also seeking a first win on this year’s race – leading the chase, the break never saw its lead stretch further than three minutes over the peloton.

After Sagan picked up maximum points at the intermediate sprint at Aubenas the break lost momentum on the Cat.2 Col de l’Escrinet before being swept up near to the bottom of the descent with around 40km remaining.

The teams of the main sprinters came to the front of the pack as the peloton – minus the Cavendish gruppetto of around 30 riders – hugged the bank of the river Rhone and zipped towards the finish.

With Cavendish out of the question, the Manxman’s team-mate Zdenek Stybar had a pop from distance but was swallowed up just ahead of the kilometre-to-go banner.

Sagan and Coquard – the young Europcar sprinter - almost collided in a competitive bunch sprint, the young Frenchman forced to unclip in a frantic finale before confronting the Slovakian afterwards with a few choice words.

Greipel bossed the final sprint in a way you would expect from a two-time winner whose main opponent was absent – and the victory was well deserved after his Lotto-Soudal team kept to the script and played their hand impeccably.

“The team supported me from kilometre-zero to the end, kept me out of the wind and kept me fresh for the sprint. I went full gas in the last few hundred metres and it was enough,” said Greipel after notching the ninth Tour stage win of his career.

As a large group formed on the front of the race on the opening climb of the Cote de Badaroux, an even larger group found themselves distanced – including British trio Cavendish, Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge).

A previous winner at both Valence and Aubenas – the location of the intermediate sprint – an ill Cavendish found himself out of the reckoning after less than an hour of racing, with his group eventually coming home more than 15 minutes in arrears.

Involved in Saturday’s break en route to finishing fifth at Mende, Sagan was once again in the thick of things after forcing a nine-man break alongside Tinkoff-Saxo team-mate Mick Rogers.

Runner-up at Mende, Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was also involved, as well Etixx-QuickStep pair Michal Kwiatkowski and Matteo Trentin, Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin).

Sagan took maximum points at the intermediate sprint at Aubenas before sitting up after the Col de l’Escrinet to refocus on a sprint finish once the peloton managed to nullify the threat of the break.

With two men in the break, Etixx-QuickStep had two possible cards to play from the break following their Cavendish set-back. With the lead coming down fast, Italian Trentin pulled out ahead on the descent of the Col de L’Escrinet with 45km remaining.

Trentin never held more than a one-minute advantage over the pack – and despite being joined by Canada’s Hesjedal the pair were swept up with around 30km remaining.

World champion Kwiatkowski led the pack over the Rhone to pave the way for an attack from distance from stage six winner Zdenek Stybar with 3km to go – but the Czech powerhouse was not able to sustain his efforts as the sprinters turned on the floodgates ahead of the ‘flamme rouge’.

Greipel is the obvious choice for his third win of the race, which kept alive his faint hopes of winning the green jersey in Paris. The German now has 316 points – some 44 shy of Sagan’s tally.

But it’s that man Sagan who underlined his ubiquity and consistency yet again – starring in the break before having a say in the finish too. There was no 16th career second-place finish on the Tour – that may have to wait until the Champs-Elysees – but Sagan still showed why he’s one of the most entertaining riders in the peloton.

Many people’s tip for the victory in Valance, Mark Cavendish and his lead-out man Mark Renshaw were both caught out on the first climb of the day as the stage got off to a fast start.

Five days in the Alps will give the Manxman ample time to plot just how he will beat the in-form Greipel in Paris and secure a fifth career win on the Champs-Elysees. But before that he’ll have to brave the frosty atmosphere at the Etixx-QuickStep dinner table on Sunday evening. Manager Patrick Lefevere will not be pleased… although news that Cav has been suffering with diarrhea may get him out of the doghouse.

He came close both from the break and in the bunch sprint – but still the winless streak continues for the man in green…