PETER SAGA!

GRACIAS Fernando. I bet your sprints are a bit faster than mine! 

Peter Sagan tagged Mclaren-Honda Formula One driver Fernando Alonso with his victory message on Twitter after retaining the men’s elite road race at the Pearl-Qatar last Sunday, beating Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Belgium’s Tom Boonen in a sprint that will go down as one of the best in recent years. 

His tweet was a self-praise, but it was perfectly okay to flaunt a bit because it suited Sagan’s style and persona. 

If speed helped the Slovak rule the road, his rock-star looks make him the sport’s most saleable brand. 

His chestnut-brown hair with blonde streaks brushed his rainbow-striped jersey, which Sagan will wear for another year. 

He claimed his maiden title in Richmond, USA, last year.

Sagan is one of the six riders to have won back-to-back world titles after Belgians Georges Ronsse (1928-1929), Rik van Steenbergen (1956-1957), Rik van Looy (1960-1961) and Italians Gianni Bugno (1991-1992) and Paolo Bettini (2006-2007).

The 26-year-old described the sprint as a lottery after the riders set off for about 150km at the Aspire Zone.

“I decided to go for the sprint. It was a lottery. I started sprinting on the right and was lucky because my competitors didn’t close me. It doesn’t happen every day you can sprint like this,” said Sagan, who races for Russian team Tinkoff.

There can be no doubt about his superiority in the modern sport. 

He is the winner of Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, three stages of Tour de France and European Championship. His second world title has now elevated him to a legendary status — invincible and unstoppable — at least for the time being.  

“You never know what’s going to happen in a sprint. It’s always a lottery. You just do your best. I had nothing to lose,” he added. 

However, Sagan started slowly and was one of the last riders to make it in the first echelon in the decisive battle after about 75km into the race.

“I was the last one to make it into the first group. At the final stretch, I was really lucky because Italian rider Giacomo Nizzolo didn’t close the gap at the fence. Had he done that, I surely would’ve crashed,” added Sagan, who will race for Germany’s Bora-Hansgrohe next season after signing a three-year deal in August. DSP

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