Michael Matthews has the Tour de France green jersey firmly in his sights after winning stage 16 in superb style.

The Australian piled the pressure on current points leader Marcel Kittel by edging out Edvald Boasson Hagen and John Degenkolb in a sprint finish at Romans sur Isere.

Matthews had earlier picked up 20 points in the intermediate sprint, while Kittel was dropped by the peloton and now has a real battle on his hands in the remaining five stages.

Kittel retained the green jersey, but his lead is down to just 29 points and Matthews will target two more hilly stages to overhaul the German before a mouthwatering finale on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday.

Matthews previously won stage 14 and said after his latest success: “To get my second in three days, I don't really know. I think it won't really sink in until tomorrow.

“I was trying to go into the breakaway but Quick-Step were covering me because they didn't want me to get the points. Then, I heard that Kittel was getting dropped so I really started to put the pressure on.”

Chris Froome retained his overall Tour de France lead by finishing in the same lead group as Matthews, along with all the other GC challengers.