Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) traded his world champion stripes for a "special" yellow jersey today by winning Tour de France stage two in La Roche-Sur-Yon.
Sagan already wore the yellow jersey in 2016, is the national Slovakian champion and the reigning world champion, but savoured the good feeling of taking the lead in the Tour.
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"I took it already in 2016, history is repeating," Sagan said.
"Every time when you wear yellow, it's something special, especially here in the Tour de France."
Sagan won a sprint ahead of a bunch reduced by a crash at 1.9 kilometres out involving overnight race leader and stage one winner Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors).
"It's always a great feeling if you can put on the yellow jersey. My team did great work in the last kilometres. I could stay out of trouble and win the stage. It's great for the entire team," he continued.
"You can't compare the world champion jersey with all these jerseys. The yellow jersey I can have for one or two days, then that's it, you can't compare it. I'm very happy for this... because I still have some world champion stripes on it [below the team name]."
Sagan's team said "no" when asked if he could keep it in the 35.5-kilometre team time trial in Cholet on Monday. The jersey could fall on Geraint Thomas's shoulders, who was helped by Team Sky to take bonus second at an intermediate sprint.
"We will try," added Sagan. "I always say that everything is possible, but we will see tomorrow how we are going."
Sagan's sprint was not without its controversy. John Degenkolb and his Trek-Segafredo team filed a complaint with the jury, which already rejected their complaint that Sagan boxed out his rival.
Last year, the jury sent Sagan home after an altercation with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) in the fourth stage.
"I don't know. But I overtook him, right? So? I don't know," Sagan continued.
"They can also throw me out again. I don't know. The jury should decide. Every year it's different, but if the jury doesn't say anything, then that's it."
Sagan won five green points jerseys in a row through 2016. His goal is to win a sixth in 2018, but he is taking it day-by-day.
"I began this stage thinking not to lose points, but in the end, I just did it, I made it. Maybe Fernando had bad luck, but I'm happy for this," Sagan said.
"Rivalry? We will see day-by-day, you could be lucky one day and have bad luck the next. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes difficult. You have to keep your feet on the ground."
