Sagan confident of finishing Tour despite heavy crash

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Paris, July 27: Peter Sagan is confident he will finish the Tour de France despite a heavy fall during stage 17 on Wednesday.

The world champion sealed a record-equalling sixth green jersey on Tuesday, but he was literally brought back down to earth during a brutal 65-kilometre ride from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan.

Sagan went off the off the road when descending the Col de Val Louron-Azet, but managed to continue and finish almost half an hour behind stage winner Nairo Quintana with cuts to his right arm and leg and a torn jersey.

The Bora-Hansgrohe sprint king will be assessed ahead of stage 18, but is optimistic he will be able to celebrate another points classification triumph in Paris this weekend.

"Thanks everybody for your support and messages!" the Slovakian tweeted.

"That was a hard crash but, fortunately, I haven't broken anything and I feel confident about the last four stages of @LeTour."

Sagan told reporters that he misjudged a corner as he came down the second descent.

He said: "I crashed in a turn - in the corner I made a mistake. It looked like a fast corner, but after I just went a little more right - I was braking but it wasn't enough.

"After I flew through the forest and I hit a big rock with my ass."

Bora-Hansgrohe said in statement: "After further examinations, no fractures have been reported. Peter suffers from heavy abrasions and some bruises on his right side. A final decision about taking on stage 18 tomorrow will be taken from the team tomorrow morning."