Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) should probably be getting used to it by now. When a rider flaunts his strength as regularly and as obviously as the world champion has done over the past two years, he can hardly expect to find too many allies of circumstance in the closing kilometres of a major race.
Part of the decisive five-man break in the finale of Gent-Wevelgem that bludgeoned its way clear coming out of Ieper, Sagan couldn't hide his irritation that one of their number, Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors), was not performing his share of the heavy lifting. Sagan and Terpstra battled keenly for the title at last year's Eneco Tour; perhaps this was round two.
When Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Jens Keukeleire (Orica-Scott) forced the pace with 15 kilometres remaining, Sagan moved aside in a bid to force Terpstra to close the gap. Terpstra called the world champion's bluff, and Van Avermaet and Keukeleire disappeared up the road.
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Shortly afterwards, Sagan accelerated hard down the right-hand gutter in an attempt to bridge back up to the leaders solo, but Terpstra promptly shut him down and his effort fizzled out. Stalemate. Accompanied by the impressive Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb), they were weighed down by their mutual distrust all the way to the finish, eventually coming home six seconds down on the winner Van Avermaet but only a whisker ahead of the closing peloton.
Sagan won the sprint for third place by the proverbial street, not that it seemed to be much consolation. His disappointment was obvious in the Sporza tent by the finish line, where he sat adjusting and readjusting the bill of his baseball cap ahead of the podium ceremony. The Slovak is often a glib interviewee in such circumstances, but he was rather more frank on this occasion.
"I don't know what Terpstra wanted to do, because he attacked to go in the breakaway and after he doesn't want to work. This is just one example of how you can lose the race against me," Sagan said, punctuating his comments with a joyless laugh. "What can I do? I am not his teammate. I'm going to work for what, for Terpstra to beat me in the sprint? I could decide today who can win."
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