Sagan, who will ride in the men’s mountain bike race at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, achieved a record 12th stage win at the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race yesterday by winning a sprint.

Today he was forced to go on a solo pursuit of an eight-man breakaway during the latter stages of the 192 kilometre stage from Grosswangen to Rheinfelden.

It followed his Tinkoff team-mates working for the majority of the stage to close a gap of more than five minutes established by the day’s early move, which contained Australia’s Matthew Hayman, winner of Paris-Roubaix earlier this year.

With half of the breakaway riders eventually falling off the pace, Switzerland’s Michael Albasini set off in pursuit of the remnants of the leading group ahead of the final climb of the day at Olsbergstrasse.

The home favourite’s move eventually prompted Sagan to test his strength, as he moved clear of the peloton to eventually join Albasini and fellow Swiss rider Silvan Dillier, the final member of the initial break.

The three-man group were able to hold off a rapidly closely peloton in the final kilometres of the stage, with Sagan using his finishing speed to burst past Albasini to earn victory in a time of 4hr, 31min and 17sec.

Argentina’s Maximiliano Richeze led the peloton across the line, a mere three seconds behind Sagan’s group.

It proved a pivotal three seconds as overall race leader Jurgen Roelandts of Belgium, who began the day on the same time as Sagan, now lies behind the Slovakian in the standings.

Stage four will see the peloton tackle a 193km route from Rheinfelden to Champagne.