Peter Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team managed to drop green jersey leader Sam Bennett (Detunink-Quick Step) on Saturday's 14th stage of the Tour de France, cutting the Irishman's lead to 43 points.

Grupama-FDJ's Stefan Küng questioned Beulah Hansgrohe's tactics as Sagan finished fourth, but the Slovakian still gained another 33 points toward the green jersey.

"I wanted to make today a tough stage and drop the sprinters," Sagan said on the team website after the stage. That's why I worked hard all day to get to the finish."

"We took fourth and gained more points in the battle for the green jersey. My goal was to take more, but in the end this was the best I could do," he said.

"This is a very hard Tour de France. I want to thank my teammates who have done a great job, not only today, but every day since the start in Nice," Sagan said.

"Of course, our goal was to get back over 23 points," explained Bora-Hansgrohe's teammate Leonard Chemnat.

"Bennett had scored more than 10 points in the intermediate sprint before he fell off the bike.

"Still, we could have been one rider short. Without one more rider it would have been an open race with a lot of attacks. I pulled to catch the rider who attacked and did it when I saw the gap. This wasn't planned, but it felt great to be in the lead on the final climb with so many spectators watching."

Sport Director Enrico Poitske added: "It was a great feeling. We knew we could put some pressure on them on the short, steep climb before the intermediate sprint.

"Peter stayed with Max [Schachmann] at the top and kept going, taking the first points (15, Bennett 10). After that, the goal was to drop all the sprinters on the second, longer climb. The team did a great job."

But then Lukas Pestlberger got a flat tire, forcing the team to "downsize" as Kemna referred to it, making it a little harder for Bora to complete their plan.

"Lucas didn't contribute enough. He kept going all the way to the finish, but it was difficult to control the race in the last kilometer."

"Peter got held up and finished fourth. Once again the whole team did a great job. Thanks to all the riders.