Slovakia’s Sagan wins with gusto

With solid finish, he takes his nation’s 1st men’s world medal.

Slovakian star Peter Sagan attacked with a mile left in the road world championships on Sunday, then powered down Broad Street to capture the gold medal in a thrilling finish.

Sagan built such a lead on silver medalist Michael Matthews of Australia and bronze medalist Ramunas Navardauskus of Lithuania that he rode handsfree across the line. With a flourish, Sagan tossed his bike aside, thrust his arms into the air, tossed his helmet into the crowd and high-fived his biggest rivals as they joined him at the finish. It was the first medal in the men’s road world championships for Slovakia.

The day’s breakaway formed shortly after riders departed from the University of Richmond and made their way toward downtown. Among those in the eightman move was American rider Ben King, who was born in Richmond and still has home near Charlottesville. He responded to the roars of the home crowd by leading the break up the cobbled climb of Libby Hill, ensuring the U.S. would be well-represented in the first world championships on home soil since 1986.

The break stayed away more than 4 hours before getting swept up. A more dangerous break materialized with about two laps to go and included favorites such as Belgian Tom Boonen, Italian Elia Viviani, and Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski. That failed as well, and the peloton was back together for the final lap.

Sagan, who hid safely in the peloton all day, made a late push to the front. He raced past Greg Van Avermaet, got into a time-trial tuck and sped downhill to open a gap. By the time he turned onto the finishing straight, he was well clear of the field.