Peter Sagan: I can’t believe it, I’m still in shock
For the second year running, Peter Sagan has been crowned Elite Mens’ Road World Champion after he blazed to victory in a small group sprint ahead of Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Belgium’s Tom Boonen.
“I’m very happy because there was a crosswind and I was the last one to make the first group,” Sagan added.
“In the end, it came down to a bunch sprint. There was a bit of a headwind so I felt I needed to come from the back. I felt I was lucky because [Giacomo] Nizzolo didn’t close me out. If he closed me out for sure we would have crashed because I wasn’t going to brake. We should have crashed but I’m happy. It’s unbelievable.”
“I am just disappointed I messed up tactically,” Cavendish said. “I came in with so much speed and power. I wanted to be on Peter’s wheel. I knew the Norwegians would hit out early into the headwind and I knew Sagan would just get the right wheel and I could float off him.”
“The hard thing was losing [GB team-mate] Luke Rowe to a puncture which would have given us three in the front group and he would have been valuable at the end” After his silver in the Omnium in the Olympic Games, Cavendish reflected, “I am just going to have to settle for another second this year.”
The World Championships nations ranking was won by Germany overall with an impressive total of 970 points nearly 300 points clear of the USA, their closest pursuers. The Netherlands moved onto the final podium on the last day’s racing with 642 points, ahead of Italy and Denmark.
