UCI World Champion Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) finished second behind Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing) at the end of a hard-fought Omloop-Het Nieuwsblad yesterday and afterwards stated the result is promising for the upcoming spring classics.
Sagan was one of a number of riders to make it across to the earlier break after putting pressure on at the Taaienberg with the catch being made at 43km.
With less than 35km to go, the break started to thin out, the elastic snapping as riders struggled to hang on, from five to four, and then three – Sagan, Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac).
These leading three maintained their lead despite a concerted chase behind with Van Avermaet winning the sprint for his second consecutive victory at the race.
After the race, Sagan was pleased with his ride after a month away from racing. “You can’t win every day. It was a very hard race and I’m happy to be racing again after Australia. I worked a lot throughout the race, and we went to the finish in the first group and I just didn’t have the legs for the win. I had spent a lot of energy and it was hard to recover for the final sprint.”
“I’ve worked hard these past few weeks, but it was one month without racing – it’s like a copy of last season, but it’s promising for the races to come. The season is long and has just started. I consider this race a very good training and I look forward to the upcoming races.”
