SERAING, Belgium — Liquigas-Cannondale rider Peter Sagan of Slovakia blushed 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 accomplished the feat.

Sagan, 22, covered 123 miles from Liege to Seraing in 4 hours, 58 minutes, 19 seconds and RadioShack-Nissan's Fabian Cancellara — a Swiss rider who won Saturday's prologue and holds the overall lead — was second.

Sagan won five of eight stages in the Tour of California among the 13 stage victories he has this year.

Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, earned his first of 22 career Tour stage victories at age 21 — in the eighth stage in 1993. The youngest stage winner of all time is Italy's Fabio Battesini, who was 19 when he took one in 1931.

Asked whether he has the potential to be the next Armstrong, Sagan cautioned such talk was premature.

"I would like to be, but I'm so young it's impossible to know what the future will be," he said.