Peter Sagan defended his men's road race world title in Doha ©Getty Images

Slovakia’s Peter Sagan became the sixth man to defend the elite road race world title after sprinting to victory at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Road World Championships in Doha.

Sagan, the winner of the UCI WorldTour and this year’s European champion, was part of a select group of riders in the final stages of the race in the Qatari capital.

The small selection had been due to a major echelon which was created by Belgian team, which effectively ended German hopes of success with John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel among those to miss the crucial move.

Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria, who eventually crashed out, was another man to fail to make the leading group, but Sagan and Britain’s Mark Cavendish were alert to the danger.

Heading into the final two kilometres of the 257km race, The Netherlands’ Tom Leezer attempted to accelerate clear, with his effort instigating the final sprint to the line.

Sagan powered past Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo to come through to take the victory in a time of 5 hours 40min 43sec, with the 2011 world champion Cavendish crossing behind in second.

The British rider would be left ruing losing the wheel of the Slovakian star, whom he had followed in the closing kilometres, as well as being briefly getting caught behind Australia’s Michael Matthews in the climax of the race.

The podium finishers had all previously claimed the world title during their careers ©Getty Images
The podium finishers had all previously claimed the world title during their careers ©Getty Images

After the strong effort of the Belgian team, Tom Boonen was able to claim the bronze medal by ending ahead of Matthews.

Boonen’s effort ensured that the podium would contain three former winners of the race, with the 36-year-old having triumphed back in 2005.

"In the end, it came down to a bunch sprint,” said Sagan afterwards.

"There was a bit of a headwind so I felt I needed to come from the back.

"I felt I was lucky because Nizzolo didn’t close me out.

"If he closed me out for sure we would have crashed because I wasn’t going to brake.

"We should have crashed but I’m happy, it’s unbelievable."

Italy’s Paolo Bettini was the last man before Sagan to win back-to-back road race world titles, having triumphed in the 2006 and 2007 editions of the event.

Belgium’s Georges Ronsses, Rik Van Steenbergen and Rik Van Looy have also defended world road race titles, with Italy’s Gianni Bugno the only other man to achieve the feat.