Yesterday was one of those days. It was a beautiful, powerful, intelligent solo victory. Dawning his rainbow stripes he rode the strongest riders on the planet off his wheel to become the King of Flanders and to become a Monument Man at last.
And it came about after yet another move that seen himself and Kwiatkowski move clear of a narrowing field of strong men and bridge across to what was left of the days early break; a move that now also contained Sep Vanmarcke who himself had earlier bridged. Vanmarke was by now the major Belgian hope after a disasterous day that seen both Greg Van Avermaet and Tiesj Benoot crash out.
The Sagan-Kwiatkowski move set the likes of Fabian Cancellara into a panic, and had the likes of myself in a state of deja-vu and wondering whether Kwiatkowski would attack on the Kwaremont or Paterberg or indeed go for another sprint against Sagan just like at E3?
Yet when it came to the nitty-gritty of a Monument classic, with well over 220km in the legs, it was Sagan who forged ahead. After the race the 26 year old, previously without a Monument victory to his name and with questions starting to linger, said that "Nobody wants to work with me, so it's always better to drop everybody".
The stragegy of a genius.
Too often Sagan has been criticised for being the strongest rider but too weak with his tactics, but as time has passed he's begun to figure it out and now with a World Championship and a Monument to his name, won with the head as well as the legs, you fear for the rest.
When he seen Kwiatkowski make that move 30km from the finish he wisely latched on. Sky had riders in abundance in what was left of the main field and so by going on this move he knew they wouldn't aid in his chase. Cancellara on the other hand was running out of team-mates and after he burned that last match he was on his own to try and bridge across. By then the race was on the Kwaremont and rather than Kwiatkowski dictate terms, it was Sagan who rode away. There was no defined attack as such, but rather the Tinkoff rider pressed on the pedals that little bit harder and the gap began to open. The only man who could follow was Vanmarcke, but he himself was tiring from his earlier effort and when they reached the Paterberg it was the same kind of effort that put the visably struggling Belgian a length behind...then two lenghts...then five...and then he was gone.
By now Cancellara himself was putting in a blistering ride, desperately trying to salvage his race. He blitzed up the Paterberg passing them all to wind up second man on the road in persuit of Sagan. The gap went out to 20secs and hovered there for some 10km. The race was on a knife edge and it was going to break one way or the other. Cancellara is the better man against the clock, but this time-trial was taking place with 250km in the legs and although the time came down briefly, the elastic soon snapped and the time began to crawl up again; the baton was being passed before our eyes.
Sagan's move on the Paterberg had shades of Cancellara doing the same to Sagan himself on the same climb back in 2013. This time it was Sagan putting on the hurt and it was a symbolic moment in which you could sense the shift in power, though Cancellara was going out in style.
All that was left was for Sagan to indulge us all with his now customary post-finish line one-handed wheelie, looking as though he could do another 100km if required. The cycling version of the motor racing driver who celebrates his victory by doing burnouts and donuts on the track for the fans. Sagan: Always the entertainer, both in his racing and his style.
Only five riders have won the Tour of Flanders while wearing the rainbow jersey: Frenchman Louison Bobet (1955), Belgians Rik Van Looy (1962), Eddy Merckx (1975) and Tom Boonen (2006), and now Peter Sagan in 2016. He's also just the fifth man, and first non-Belgian, to do the Gent-Wevelgem - Tour of Flanders double in the same year, joining Van Looy (1962), Walter Godefroot (1968), Eric Vanderaerden (1985) and Tom Boonen (2012). Sagan may well be a Slovak, but there must be a little Flemish in him somewhere, and the locals have certainly adopted him as one of their own. The Belgian press this morning were talking more about Sagan's brilliance than their own nations failure to shine on their biggest stage in what has now become a four year drought. The way Sagan has now found his Monument feet, that drought may not end so easily.
And speaking of 2013 and Cancellara doing to Sagan what Sagan this year did to the rest...Sagan will now look to further emulate Cancellara from that season by going on to do the cobbled double and add the Paris-Roubaix crown to his victory in De Ronde. Cancellara of course will look to Roubaix to bite back with one last hurrah and given how he tried until the end on Sunday, you just know Sagan will have work very hard with his legs and his head once again to shift the old legend.
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Tour of Flanders result:
1. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) 2. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory) 3. Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo 4. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) 5. Luke Rowe (Sky) 6. Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale) 7. Imanol Erviti (Movistar) 8. Zdenek Stybar (Etixx - Quick Step) 9. Dimitri Claeys (Wanty - Groupe Gobert) 10. Niki Terpstra (Etixx - Quick Step) 11. Lars Boom (Astana) 12. Geraint Thomas (Sky) 13. Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx - Quick Step) 14. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) 15. Tom Boonen (Etixx - Quick Step) | in 6h 10' 42" @ 25" @ 27" @ 48" all s.t. @ 55" @ 59" @ 1' 01" |
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Rider of the week:
Easy pick this time. Sure there was the Three Days of De Panne, but the Tour of Flanders is the Super Bowl of Belgian cycling and Peter Sagan won it in true legendary style.
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Rider of the month (March):
Peter Sagan. Yes Arnaud Demare won the months monument at Milan-San Remo as well as a stage of Paris-Nice, and Michael Matthews won two stages of Paris-Nice, and Nacer Bouhanni won a stage of Paris-Nice and two at the Volta a Catalunya, and Fabian Cancellara won Strade Bianche and a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, but Sagan superb throughout the month. He finished in the top 10 of every race he competed in except for Milan-San Remo and that was hindered only because a crash got in his way with 300m to go. He was second overall at Tirreno with 2nd, 4th, 7th, 2nd and 10th place finished in each of its five road stages; he was 4th at Strade Bianche, 2nd at E3 and then he won Gent-Wevelgem. It all set up the big win we just seen to start April.
