Peter Sagan claims first European title
Less than 12 months after taking the rainbow jersey, Peter Sagan (Slovakia) took his next major international championship win when he took a dominant victory at the European Championships.
Despite limited team support, he turned out to be in a class of his own in the uphill sprint on the Cote de Cadoudal where he easily beat Julian Alaphilippe (France) and Daniel Moreno (Spain) into the minor podium positions.
The finale of the race, to which elite riders had access for the first time, saw Moreno Moser rider away from the front group with kilometers to go but the Italian was caught at about two kilometers from the finish.
His compatriot Davide Villella then tried his luck but he as well was caught by a small peloton led by Gianni Meersman.
In the final sprint, all eyes were on reigning World Champion Peter Sagan and the Slovak did not disappoint, crossing the line well ahead of Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe and Daniel Moreno of Spain. Samuel Dumoulin (France) and Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic) completed the top five.
European Championships 2016 – road race results:
| 1 | Peter Sagan (Slovakia) |
5:34:23 |
| 2 | Julian Alaphilippe (France) | |
| 3 | Daniel Moreno (Spain) | |
| 4 | Samuel Dumoulin (France) | |
| 5 | Peter Vacok (Czech Republic) | |
| 6 | Rui Costa (Portugal) | |
| 7 | Tony Gallopin (France) | |
| 8 | Phlippe Gilbert (Belgium) | |
| 9 | Diego Ulissi (Italy) | |
| 10 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Spain) |
