World Championships: Sagan beats Cavendish to defend elite men's world title in Doha

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Peter Sagan (Slovakia) retained his World Championships title in Doha, Qatar with a dominant sprint performance to hold off Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) in second and Tom Boonen (Belgium) in third.

In a close sprint, Sagan and Cavendish both picked different lines with the British rider held up behind Michael Matthews (Australia) as Sagan went from the opposite side and picking a clearer line.

"I don't believe it. I'm still in shock," Sagan said. "I'm very happy because there was a crosswind and I was the last one to make the first group. In the end, it was a sprint so we should see.

"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."

The race was dominated by one sector of crosswinds in the desert with Belgium putting the hammer down. They split the race to pieces, eliminating several riders including Marcel Kittel, Caleb Ewan, Nacer Bouhanni, and Andre Greipel. From there the Belgians combined with Italy, Norway and a handful of the remaining sprinters with a 30-strong group holding their advantage all the way to the finish.

On the finish circuits around the Pearl, only Niki Terpstra and his teammate Tom Leezer (Netherlands) made late attacks before Belgium once more controlled the race with a sprint set to decide the rainbow jersey.

Cavendish and Sagan marked each other carefully but when Sagan went right, up against the barriers and through a small gap left by Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy), Cavendish went left. He was forced to stop pedalling with 150 metres to go, as he came through Matthews' slipstream, while Sagan was met with fresh air and a clean rainbow jersey.

Despite a week devoid of truly exciting racing the World Championships ended with an impressive podium, with three former world champions - and a current one -  taking the medals.

How it unfolded

The riders headed out to the Aspire Zone in western Doha for the start of the men's road race. With the temperatures already well into the 30s, the riders sought the shade of a nearby building as they prepared for the start. Slightly later than scheduled, the riders set off just after 10:30 through the lengthy neutralised zone.

Brayan Ramirez (Colombia), Nic Dougall (South Africa), Natnael Berhane (Eritrea), Ryan Roth (Can), Anas Ait El Abdia (Morocco), Sergiy Lagkuti (Ukraine) and Rene Corella (Mexico) broke clear early on. They were allowed more than 11 minutes of an advantage but it was never going to last very long. Aside from an early crash involving Chad Haga (USA), there was relative calm in the peloton behind.

With 200 kilometres to go, the wind began to pick up and there were some early signs of echelons forming. As the race turned back towards Doha, the Belgians and the Dutch pushed hard at the front and cracks began to form through the peloton. As if a trapdoor had opened in the middle of the bunch, riders were quickly dispatched and the race that many had hoped for was coming together.

Belgium had serious numbers with six riders up front including Tom Boonen and Greg van Avermaet. The Netherlands, too, had some firepower as Niki Terpstra made the first group. Norway got all three of their team members in, along with Michael Matthews, Mat Hayman, Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish. Sam Bennett and Magnus Cort Nielsen initially made the cut but were shot out the back, the latter suffering a front wheel puncture.

Germany and France were the two biggest losers when the race split, neither nation managed to get their key riders into the move. In the chaos, Australia's Luke Durbridge suffered a dropped chain and as he was moving to the left side of the road to receive a new wheel, he was struck from behind by another rider. Fernando Gaviria was caught up in the incident and looked as if he'd broken his collarbone as he sat on the barriers in the middle of the road. His race was instantly over as was Durbridge's.

Despite the scramble behind, the gap only increased between the two pelotons as the breakaway riders were absorbed by the first of those with 143 kilometres still to run. The 26-man group entered the Pearl circuit with a minute's gap over the chasing group, as Belgium and Italy worked together to try and push the pace. Much of the Great Britain squad, that had missed the cut when the race broke apart, were pulled out as they arrived on the Pearl over 10 minutes after the leaders. Spain also lost their main hope, Juan Jose Lobato, who was in that same group.

With Belgian riders in the group behind slowing the chase down, the gap between the two front groups continued to extend, despite a number of attacks from the Germans. John Degenkolb showed his frustration after one such attack at just under 60 kilometres to go when he squirted water into the face of Jens Debusschere, who had been playing his domestique role perfectly for the Belgian squad.

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