Peter Sagan storms to Tour of Flanders win

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Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) secured the first Monument of his career with an unstoppable performance in the 100th edition of the Tour of Flanders. The World Champion attacked several times and shed his final companion, Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo), on the Paterberg before soloing to the finish.

Riding in his final Ronde van Vlaanderen, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Segafredo) stormed up the Oude Kwaremont to break clear from the main chase group but, after linking up with Vanmarcke on the Paterberg, he was unable to claw Sagan back on the run-in to Oudenaarde.

The Slovak carried a 15-second lead over the final climb and, arms tucked neatly over his bars, extended that gap in the closing stages as he time trialled his way to the line, whereupon he pulled a trademark wheelie. Cancellara sat up, saluted the Flanders crowd and drank in the atmosphere one final time as he came home for second, with Vanmarcke, who had been visibly weaker in the chase, happy to let him do so rather than contest the sprint.

Last year’s winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), who rode an inoffensive race, won a small sprint for fourth in a group that included Luke Rowe (Team Sky) and the Etixx-QuickStep duo of Zdenek Stybar and Niki Terpstra.

“I feel very good, I’m very happy. It was a super hard race from start to finish – always full gas,” said Sagan. “It's very hard to work with other guys because no one wants to work with me... so it's better to drop everyone.

“We have to think about the two guys who died last week,” he added, referring to the deaths of fellow riders Antoine Demoitié and Daan Myngheer, who were both remembered earlier in the day. “It’s very sad. I want to dedicate this to them. Also to [teammate] Maciej Bodnar, who crashed in training. He was very unlucky and I want to wish him a good recovery.”

With Tour of Flanders victory comes the inevitable Paris-Roubaix hype, though Sagan was understandably keen to distance himself from thoughts of a historic Monument double.

“Next week I will think about next week,” he said. “Not now.”

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Favourites crash out

The first half of the race was fast and furious, the bunch nervous, and with over 100km still remaining, crashes had left the hopes of three pre-race favourites in tatters.

One of the enduring images of this race will be that of a distraught and tearful Greg Van Avermaet sitting by the roadside, head in hands, after coming down in a crash that took out four BMC riders. The Belgian has come so close here in previous years and, after success at Omloop Het Niewusblad, hopes were higher than ever. He suffered a broken collarbone and was put into an ambulance along with teammate Michael Schar.

Also leaving the race in an ambulance was Lotto Soudal’s Tiesj Benoot, a great hope of the home nation after his fifth place on his debut last year. The 22-year-old came down with 128km remaining, shortly before the Wolvenberg, in a big crash that appeared to be caused by a jettisoned bidon. Marcus Burghardt (BMC) was also forced out of the race in that pile-up.

Milan-San Remo winner Arnaud Demare (FDJ) was hoping to carry his Monument-winning form into Flanders but he was dumped out of the race with just over 100km covered. The Frenchman came down heavily near the front of the pack and, after trying to carry on, was forced to abandon, though with no serious injuries.

Demoitié and Myngheer remembered

Nice weather and big crowds welcomed riders in Bruge's market square for the start of the jubilee edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen. There was an impressive minute of silence in memory of Antoine Demoitié, who died following a crash in Gent-Wevelgem last week.

Shortly after the riders had rolled out of Bruges, with 25 kilometres on the clock, another recently deceased rider was remembered as the peloton slowed through the Hooglede - the hometown of Daan Myngheer, who died from a heart attack at the Critérium International last week.

Many teams’ only objective was to get somebody in a breakaway, but that proved to be a hard task with a frantic pace in the peloton, and it was only 70km into the race that a small group finally established a gap. The six leaders were Hugo Houlé (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Federico Zurlo (Lampre-Merida), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Argon 18), Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Wesley Kreder (Roompot Oranje Peloton).

After a string of crashes, which held up several riders, including Vanmarcke, who was forced to launch a chase, the race calmed down somewhat but Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) split the peloton to pieces after the Molenberg. About 25 riders were in the first group with him, and they were soon caught by a second large group, just before the Paddestraat.

André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Nils Politt (Katusha) then attacked on the Leberg and the peloton let them go. During the ascent of the Berendries there were only two leaders left in front, Van Hoecke and Erviti. After more attacks from the peloton, Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) and Dimitri Claeys (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) went clear and by the tenth climb of the day, the Kanarieberg, they found themselves in the lead group which now consisted of seven riders after the Greipel group had successfully bridged. At the foot of the Oude Kwaremont they were two minutes ahead of the peloton.

On the ‘new’ Flanders route that has existed since 2012, the final 55 kilometres are the most crucial, with eight climbs, including a double dose of the Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg combination.

It was here that the key moves were made and on the Kwaremont it was Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) who accelerated. The Belgian was soon joined by Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale) and they closed in on the leaders over the Paterberg and Koppenberg, while behind them a group with, among others, Vanmarcke, Stuyven, Ian Stannard (Sky), Pieter Weening (Roompot Oranje Peloton) anticipated the Koppenberg and gained a small lead.

Claeys and Greipel crested the top of the Koppenberg first, while Stannard gapped Vanmarcke and the others. A little later Lars Boom (Astana) led the peloton ahead of Cancellara, Stijn Devolder (Trek-Segafredo) and Sagan as the race became tactical.  Jürgen Roelandts went solo on the Mariaborrestraat cobbles and ahead of the Taaienberg more outsiders escaped the peloton, including Devolder, Vanmarcke, Trentin and Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEdge).

A sprint up the Taaienberg catapulted Cancellara, Sagan, Stybar, Boonen, Michael Kwiatkowski, Rowe and Thomas for Sky and others into the first peloton. This group quickly caught Stannard back.

A few moments later, when riding on a false flat section in Nukerke there was a strong acceleration from Kwiatkowski and Sagan. With a big effort Sep Vanmarcke managed to close the gap. There was hesitation, followed by panic, behind as riders realised the last two world champions were up the road with a thoroughbred Flandrien. Over the Kruisberg they went and the elite trio bridged up to the break with 25 kilometres remaining, with a lead of forty seconds over the main group of chasers.

Once on the cobbles of the Oude Kwaremont for the final time, Kwiatkowski had to let go of Sagan and Vanmarcke, while in the bunch nobody was able to keep up with Cancellara. The Swiss powerhouse stormed up the climb and reached the top in third place, 12 seconds behind Sagan and Vanmarcke. After the wide roads of the N36, Cancellara was caught back by Nikki Terpstra, Claeys and Erviti.

On the 20 per cent gradients of the Paterberg, Sagan put in a seated acceleration and Vanmarcke fell away. Cancellara soon caught him at the top and the duo set off in pursuit, but the world champion would never be seen again.

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