Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) admitted that stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico on the short but steep ‘muri’ climbs of Marche region had been a crazy day of racing and conceded that his victory on the uphill finish in Fermo ahead of some of the best climbers on the peloton was equally as incredible for him to take in.
The world champion somehow managed to close a gap on the leaders after the second assault of the 14% ‘Muro’ up to Fermo with three kilometres to go. He then bossed his way to the front, chasing down an attack by Rigoberto Uran and psyching out the other riders on the last climb, before diving into the last corner in first place and sprinting to the line.
It was a superb moment of bike racing and the crowd roared in admiration of his performance and victory. The riders he had beaten both mentally and physically could only drop their heads in disappointment and perhaps silent admiration.
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Sagan admitted he had surprised himself with his performance in the finale and his stage victory. “I told Rafal [Majka] not to do anything stupid for me because I might not have been up there for the finish. I thought it was too hard for me from what I saw of the climb,” Sagan said.
“It was a crazy day…. We went hard all day. There were the attacks to get in the break, then Vincenzo [Nibali] put his team on the front to close it down. Then there were others who attacked and Movistar rode like crazy to close it down. When we got to the circuit, they started attacking again. It was hard all day. Now I’m knocked out too.”
Sagan admitted that he had played mind games with the climbers in the final kilometre, bluffing by riding on the front, as if in a high-stakes poker match, using his positioning and ability to convince himself he could win.
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