Matteo Trentin edged out Peter Sagan in a photo-finish to win the seventh stage of the Tour de France in Nancy yesterday.

The 234.5-kilometre route from Epernay was the second-longest stage of this year’s race and lit up when the riders reached the day’s second and final categorised climb.

The summit of the Cote de Boufflers came with 5.5km to go, with Sagan (Cannondale) prominent over the top, but the leaders regrouped in the finale and Italian Trentin pipped Sagan by the narrowest of margins to claim Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s first win of the 101st Tour.

The Belgian squad had to regroup following leader Mark Cavendish’s exit on day one and Italian Trentin’s second Tour stage win will come as a welcome success.

Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol) was third as Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) retained the yellow jersey for another day by finishing 16th.

Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky tumbled in the closing 100m during the sprint, which Trentin won as Sagan missed out narrowly once more.

Sagan appears comfortable in the points classification’s green jersey but he is still chasing a fifth stage win of his career and a first of the 2014 Tour.

Today’s lumpy, 161km eighth stage from Tomblaine to Gerardmer La Mauselaine provides a further test for the peloton.