Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed victory by the tightest of margins on stage 1 of the BinckBank Tour, edging out Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) by millimetres in a bunch sprint in the Dutch town of Venray.
After lunging for the finish at precisely the same time and crossing the line side by side, neither Sagan nor Bauhaus dared to raise an arm in celebration, and a photo finish was required to separate them. They endured a short but anxious wait as the judges deliberated over the image.
Last month, of course, the commissaires doled out a contentious verdict when they expelled Sagan home from the Tour de France following his clash with Mark Cavendish in the finishing straight in Vittel. On this occasion, there was rather prompter and far happier news for the world champion, who clenched his fist on receiving confirmation that he had clocked up the 98th victory of his career.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sagan and Bauhaus were the class of the field in a chaotic sprint finish where a number of fancied names – most notably pre-stage favourite Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) – were unable to make any impact whatsoever.
Kittel was already out of contention – boxed in and too far back – by the time the peloton reached the first of two late roundabouts with a shade over a kilometre to go. At that point, André Greipel’s Lotto Soudal team held the reins at the front, but their train seemed to lose a couple of carriages when the peloton separated around the next roundabout, and the German had to settle for ninth on the stage.
Sagan timed his effort well in the ensuing sprint, but faced a stiff challenge from the fast-finishing Bauhaus, who was closing in on the Slovak as they bore down on the finishing line. Sagan held on to win by a whisker, while Magnus Cort (Orica-Scott) claimed a distant third ahead of Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Boy van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo).
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/2vGY72H
No comments:
Post a Comment