All Tirreno-Adriatico points classification leader Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) had to do in the final stage time trial was cruise in to the finish inside the time cut to take home the red jersey. But that almost didn't happen when a pedestrian walking a dog crossed the road directly in front of the Slovakian, who was bearing down on the hapless person at 60kph.

Luckily, Sagan's legendary bike handling skills paid off once again, and despite being in the time trial bars out of reach of the brakes, he was able to swerve through a small opening onto the sidewalk and avoid a collision.

The road world champion laughed off the incident to the press later, telling RAI, "It was my fault, the person was in the pedestrian crosswalk."

The incident was very nearly no laughing matter, however. Sagan is one of the favourites for this weekend's Milan-San Remo and could have been injured, or worse, could have seriously injured the woman. In 2014 Johan Vansummeren hit a spectator during the Tour of Flanders, and the woman was permanently paralysed from the crash.

"It was lucky it was not an incident," Sagan said. "I didn't brake because I was in my position on the time trial, I saw her really late, so there was nowhere to go except off the road."

Always a gentleman, only @petosagan gives way to older people&animals even in a TT. BUT please respect the safety of the riders!! pic.twitter.com/HWnJJ9yXEQ