Peter Sagan wins People's Choice Classic
World champion beats Greipel and Ewan in sprint finish
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his first win of the season with victory in the People's Choice Classics in Adelaide. The world champion beat Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) to win the race and get off the mark for 2018.
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"I am very happy," said Sagan. "I was ok but after some guys came from the back they closed me a little bit but in the end it went very well. I am very happy for that and I didn’t expect I could win today."
There was a heavy fall for Kristoffer Halvorsen (Team Sky) with the rider crashing in the sprint. He was taken to hospital for checks on his right side and suffered numerous cuts.
The 22-lap race, which totalled 50.6km in distance, saw the WorldTour teams assemble for the first time this season with the Tour Down Under proper starting in two days’ time.
It didn’t take long for the attacks to start, with Bahrain-Merida the first squad to fire a rider up the road. EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale chased the move down but by the start of the third lap a group of three had move clear.
At the front of the , Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek Segafredo), Tom Bohli (BMC Racing) and Zak Dempster (Uni-S-Ausrtralia) slipped clear, and they were soon joined by Timothy Roe ((Uni-S-Ausrtralia), Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha-Alpecin), Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data) and Manuele Boara (Bahrain-Merida). This group steadily built up a lead of around 45 seconds in the opening half of the race as Quick-Step Floors, Mitcheton Scott, Sunweb and Lotto Soudal monitored the front of the main field.
Although the break made an instant impression, their lack of cohesion soon cost them. They fought over the intermediate sprints and Restrepo’s eagerness to push on and split the group caused instant problems. With 16 laps remaining, the Katusha Alpecin rider broke the group, skipping clear with veteran Boara and BMC Racing’s Bohli, but even that level of cooperation was short-lived. Restrepo soon sat up and when Quick-Step intensified their chase with around 6 laps to go, the two remaining leaders were slowly pulled back.
On lap 18, with the race back together, the sprinters’ teams began to vie for position. This caused the briefest of lulls and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) soloed off the front. The move proved to be as futile as the host broadcaster’s attempts of streaming the event live – it cut out with two laps to go – but Bora showed their dominance to draw first blood. Sagan, who came into the race calling for calm and stating that he was racing without pressure, has hit the ground running. It’s only January and the rest of the peloton have been put on notice.
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe | 1:04:25 |
2 | Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal | |
3 | Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
4 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors | |
5 | Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
6 | Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky | |
7 | Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia | |
8 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
9 | Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team | |
10 | Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data | |
11 | Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team | |
12 | Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin | |
13 | Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb | |
14 | Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:00:03 |
15 | Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | |
16 | Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
17 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott | |
18 | Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
19 | Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors | |
20 | Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia | |
21 | Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
22 | Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
23 | Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo | |
24 | Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
25 | Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors | |
26 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida | |
27 | Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | |
28 | Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
29 | Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | |
30 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida | 0:00:08 |
31 | Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
32 | Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
33 | Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
34 | Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
35 | Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team | |
36 | Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data | |
37 | Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data | |
38 | Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin | |
39 | Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team | |
40 | Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team | |
41 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | |
42 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
43 | Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ | |
44 | Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team | |
45 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ | |
46 | Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo | |
47 | Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | |
48 | Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo | |
49 | Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
50 | Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
51 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
52 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | |
53 | Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb | |
54 | Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
55 | Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin | |
56 | Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
57 | Mickael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
58 | Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
59 | Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ | |
60 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ | |
61 | Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
62 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 0:00:24 |
63 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors | 0:00:25 |
64 | Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal | |
65 | Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
66 | Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:29 |
67 | Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott | |
68 | Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin | 0:00:31 |
69 | Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ | 0:00:32 |
70 | Jacobus Venter (RSA) Dimension Data | |
71 | Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors | |
72 | Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
73 | José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin | |
74 | Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team | |
75 | Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
76 | Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
77 | Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale | |
78 | Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | |
79 | Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:00:35 |
80 | Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb | |
81 | Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
82 | Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal | |
83 | Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky | |
84 | Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:00:39 |
85 | Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo | |
86 | Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | |
87 | Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo | |
88 | Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
89 | Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
90 | William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
91 | Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia | |
92 | Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia | |
93 | Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team | |
94 | Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
95 | Tom Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
96 | Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | |
97 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
98 | Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 0:00:44 |
99 | Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | |
100 | Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
101 | Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
102 | Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
103 | Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
104 | Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:46 |
105 | Alex Porter (Aus) UniSA-Australia | 0:00:47 |
106 | Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb | 0:00:55 |
107 | Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data | 0:00:59 |
108 | George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
109 | Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky | 0:01:02 |
110 | Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky | |
111 | Ben O'Connor (Aus) Dimension Data | 0:01:09 |
112 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky | |
113 | Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors | |
114 | Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky | |
115 | Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | 0:01:12 |
116 | Timothy Roe (Aus) UniSA-Australia | 0:01:13 |
117 | Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin | 0:01:22 |
118 | Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
119 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:01:27 |
120 | Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 0:01:34 |
121 | Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky | |
122 | Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
123 | Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 0:01:36 |
124 | Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team | 0:01:37 |
125 | Truls Engen Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team | |
126 | Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
127 | Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo | 0:01:42 |
128 | Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:01:45 |
129 | Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia | 0:01:58 |
130 | Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data | |
131 | Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 0:02:51 |
132 | Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin | 0:03:31 |
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