Storming finish from Peter Sagan to take stage three of the Tour de France

Bora-Hansgrohe's Sagan beat Michael Matthews of Team Sunweb and Quick-Step Floors' Dan Martin in an uphill sprint, but with Thomas and Froome crossing the line in eighth and ninth they took control of first and second place in the general classification.

Thomas leads by 12 seconds from Froome, with Australian Matthews third on the same time and Sagan fourth, a further second back.

"It's the best start we've ever had," Thomas said. "It is still a fight but it means we have the freedom to ride up there."

The 212.5km stage from Verviers took the riders on a lap of the Spa-Francorchamps Formula One circuit before they passed through Luxembourg and into France for the first time this year.

But the battle for victory was always expected to come down to the final climb, the Cote des Religieuses.

Sagan was the clear favourite and duly delivered despite pulling his foot out of his pedal as he tried to launch his sprint.

"You don't have time to think," he said of that moment. "You just have to do."

Sagan came to the fore after BMC's Richie Porte, seen as Froome's main rival in the race, launched his own attack 800 metres from the finish.

"It wasn't (premeditated) at all but the guys put me in a fantastic position," said the Australian, who sits 20th, 47 seconds down on Thomas.

"It felt good but I knew when I saw that 500m to go sign that it was a bit too far for me...

"It was just good for the confidence to have a bit of a crack there."

Sky had been happy to let Porte exert himself, confident others would do the work to chase him down.

"We were not too stressed about it," Thomas said. "We knew Sagan and some other guys would want to ride for the stage and would cover it."

The little show of force has nevertheless made Porte the favourite for stage five to La Planche des Belles Filles, the first serious climb of this year's race.

But Froome, who took his first career Tour stage win on that climb in 2012, warned his friend and former team-mate he would have it all to do to take yellow off Thomas.

"He'd have to make up 35 seconds on me and 45 seconds on Geraint," he said. "That's certainly going to take some doing on a six-kilometre climb."

For Martin, third place will come as a confidence boost as he bids to stay with the general classification contenders.

Four bonus seconds for a podium finish move him up to 15th place, 43 seconds down on Thomas.

The Irishman posted a picture on the finish on Instagram and wrote: "I expected to post a photo of Spa Francorchamps Circuit as my highlight of today. Then this happened. Unexpectedly found my sprint legs."

Sitting one-two at the top of the overall standings is a fine way for Team Sky to end a day which began with more rumblings about the skinsuit they wore in the opening time trial in Dusseldorf.

Team Sky finished with four riders in the top eight on Saturday, with Thomas winning to take yellow, but rival teams claimed their kit violated rules on aero design.

The team have worn the kits - which were cleared by the race jury - in other events this year without complaint, and Sky team principal Sir Dave Brailsford said he found the ongoing discussion 'funny'.

"I'm surprised because we've ridden in that skinsuit since May," he said. "Nobody has mentioned it. No other team has raised it until now.

"If they are that slow picking it up, they should have a look at their own performance - if another team is doing something new, I will know within 24 hours because we monitor the other teams.

"We get derided about marginal gains, but when it does work we get derided even more. It's all part of the fun, though."

But the team were less amused when they picked up the morning edition of L'Equipe as the French sports daily splashed the accusations on the front page.

Team Sky's riders have faced abuse from Tour crowds in the past and, given the tense security around the race, there was concern the coverage could provoke further incidents.

Final leading positions after Stage 3 (Verviers - Longwy - 212.5km): 1 Peter Sagan (Svk) 05hrs 07mns 19secs, 2 Michael Matthews (Aus), 3 Daniel Martin (Irl), 4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) all at the same time, 5 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) at 02secs, 6 Arnaud Demare (Fra), 7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den), 8 Geraint Thomas (Gbr), 9 Christopher Froome (Gbr), 10 Rafal Majka (Pol), 11 Nairo Quintana (Col), 12 Romain Bardet (Fra), 13 Tim Wellens (Bel), 14 Richie Porte (Aus), 15 Tiesj Benoot (Bel), 16 Guillaume Martin (Fra), 17 Fabio Aru (Ita), 18 Alberto Contador (Spa), 19 Rigoberto Uran (Spa), 20 Esteban Chaves (Col) all at the same time

Selected Others: 34 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott at 10 secs, 49 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team at 25secs, 72 Scott Thwaites (Gbr) Dimension Data at 01mins 29, 103 Ben Swift (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates at 01mins 49secs, 126 Daniel Mclay (Gbr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro at 02mins 52secs, 166 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky at 03mins 53secs, 167 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Dimension Data at the same time, 171 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Dimension Data at 03mins 58secs,

General Classification after Stage 3: 1 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky 10hrs 00mins 31secs, 2 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky at 12secs, 3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb at the same time, 4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe at 13secs, 5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data at 16secs, 6 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 25secs, 7 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors at 30secs, 8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky at 32secs, 9 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal at the same time, 10 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb at 34secs, 11 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team at 37secs, 12 Stefan Kung (Swi) BMC Racing Team at 38secs, 13 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe at 40secs, 14 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team at the same time, 15 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 43secs, 16 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, 17 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ all at the same time, 18 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott 45secs, 19 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-Scott at the same time, 20 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 47secs

Selected Others: 53 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 01mins 37secs, 92 Ben Swift (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates at 02mins 55secs, 115 Scott Thwaites (Gbr) Dimension Data at 03mins 43secs, 126 Daniel Mclay (Gbr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro at 04mins 02secs, 143 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) Dimension Data at 04mins 47secs, 158 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Dimension Data at 05mins 42secs, 193 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky at 19mins 36secs