Sagan wins first stage in Belgium

SERAING, Belgium — Peter Sagan blushed, giggled and eventually brushed off comparisons to Lance Armstrong on Sunday after becoming the youngest rider to win a Tour de France stage since the Texan nearly a generation ago.

The 22-year-old Slovak gave a command performance in his debut in a full Tour stage by outsprinting Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, who mounted a spirited and successful defense of his yellow jersey over a hilly ride in eastern Belgium in Stage 1.

The standings among the top contenders to win the three-week race didn’t change much after the 123-mile loop from Liege to suburban Seraing featuring five low-grade climbs. Bradley Wiggins of Britain and defending champion Cadel Evans trailed close behind in a splintered pack.

Overall, Wiggins is second behind Cancellara, seven seconds back, and Evans is another 10 seconds slower in eighth.

Sagan, who won five of eight stages in this year’s Tour of California among the 13 stage victories he has this year, placed his hands on his shoulders after edging out Cancellara and Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen. It was the culmination of a tricky uphill patch with cobblestones right before the finish.

The promising Slovak becomes the youngest rider to capture a Tour stage since Armstrong won his first of his 22 career Tour stage victories at age 21 — in Stage 8 in 1993. The youngest of all time is Italy’s Fabio Battesini, who was 19 when he won one in the 1931 Tour.

Sagan landed another spot in the history books: No other Tour debutant has won the first Tour road stage since Fabio Baldato of Italy 17 years ago, according to Infostrada, a Dutch sports information service. David Zabriskie of the United States won the opening time-trial in his first Tour in 2005, but that wasn’t a full road stage.