Peter Sagan took a historic victory at the Elite Men’s Road Race at the UCI World Road Championships in Bergen, Norway today becoming the first rider ever to win three in a row after his victories in Richmond in 2015 and Doha last year.
In a sprint finish from a diminished lead group, Sagan just edged out Alexander Kristoff (Norway) for the gold medal, with Australian Michael Matthews in third.
Conor Dunne (Ireland) was the first to attack and the Irish rider went clear with his team mate Sean McKenna, Andrey Amador (Costa Rica), Willie Smit (South Africa), Salah Eddine Mraouni (Morocco), Kim Magnusson (Sweden), Elchin Asadov (Azerbaijan), Alexey Vermeulen (USA), Matti Manninen (Finland) and Eugert Zhupa (Albania). The ten riders quickly built up a lead which reached a maximum of ten minutes.
However, they were brought back inside the final four laps after some solid work at the front of the bunch by the Dutch team.
The next significant move consisted of Marco Haller (Austria), Tim Wellens (Belgium), Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), David de la Cruz (Spain), Alessandro De Marchi (Italy), Jack Haig (Australia), Lars Boom (Netherlands) and Odd Christian Eiking (Norway) who went clear with three and a half laps left.
The Polish and French teams led the chase and this group were caught after the penultimate climb of Salmon Hill. On the final ascent of the climb Julian Alahilippe (France) put in a ferocious attack and it looked like it might be the winning move. He was joined by Gianni Moscon (Italy) but inside the final kilometre, they were caught.
It came down to a sprint between 28 riders and it looked like Kristoff might be crowned World Champion on home soil. However, he was denied by Sagan who came around him with just metres remaining.
“It wasn’t easy,” confirmed Sagan afterwards. “The last 5km, I said to myself it was already done – it’s gone. Then it changed in the front, then I tried to go in the breakaway, and then Gaviria tried to close the gap after which we managed to get it all back together for a sprint.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m sorry for Kristoff – he’s racing at home after all – but I’m very happy to win again. Three UCI World Championships – it’s special for sure. It doesn’t change anything, but it’s really special.”
“It’s hard to say before a race what will happen. You saw in the climb we were already splitting into two or three pieces. We were being caught from behind and then there was a break in the front, but I was lucky to come into the finish where I did – you can’t predict it – if somebody is stronger in the front, they can easily take the win.”
Afterwards, Sagan dedicated his victory and also thanked his friends and team mates as he said: “I’d like to thank my national team – Slovakia – and my friends in the group. I want to dedicate my victory to Michele Scarponi – it would have been his birthday tomorrow. It was a sad thing to have happened this year – my best wishes to all his family. I also dedicate this victory to my wife – we’re expecting a baby, and this is a fantastic end to the season. I’m very happy.”
