World Road Race champion Peter Sagan had a lucky escape during today’s final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, when a woman walking her dog walked in front of him and he had to take evasive action.

Afterwards, Sagan took to Twitter to say: “I love dogs but please respect the safety of the riders!”

The Slovakian was a few kilometres into the 10-kilometre time-trial at San Benedetto del Tront when the incident took place.

A woman walked her dog across the street on a zebra crossing in front of Sagan and appeared oblivious to the race taking place. Luckily for Sagan, there was a gap in the kerb between the road and the adjacent bike path and he was able to divert onto the path and avoid the spectator.

He re-emerged onto the road soon after, looked back at the woman and continued on his way, having lost a number of seconds due to the incident.

“I was lucky there wasn’t an incident with the lady who crossed the road with her dog – it was funny really,” Sagan said afterwards. “I didn’t brake because I was in my time trial position. I saw her really late, so the only way to avoid her was to go off road. Today I was relaxed – it was a rest day for me and I just wanted to get to the finish safe. I’m happy nothing happened and I’m looking forward to Saturday now.”

Peter Sagan Dog Tirreno

3 COMMENTS

  1. Course should have been closed. Period. If it was not, the pedestrian with the dog 100% had the right of way at the crosswalk. Without more information, this sits squarely on the shoulders of the race officials.

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