Superb Sagan secures men's road race title with blistering attack as World Championships conclude

Peter Sagan secured victory after a superb attack three kilometres from the finish ©Getty Images

Slovakia’s Peter Sagan secured gold and the world champion’s rainbow jersey after breaking clear in the final three kilometres to win the elite men’s road race at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Road World Championships in Richmond, United States.

After several early but ultimately unsuccessful attacks during the opening stages of the 261km race, featuring several home favourites such as Ben King and Taylor Phinney, the most dangerous move formed with two laps remaining.

A breakaway instigated by Britain’s Ian Stannard and The Netherlands’ Bauke Mollema grew to a select group of seven riders, including 2014 world champion Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland, Belgium’s Tom Boonen, Costa Rica’s Andrey Amador, Spain’s Dani Moreno and Italy’s Elia Viviani.

With the group working together to build an advantage the break looked increasingly likely to prove decisive, however as the German team had failed to put a cyclist into the move they began to work on the head of the peloton to pull the leaders back.

The climbs in the closing stages of the penultimate lap eventually saw the peloton catch the breakaway, ending Kwiatkowski’s brave defence of his title, while setting up for a thrilling finale in front of a sizeable crowd.

Despite another doomed attack by America’s Tyler Farrar and Belarus’s Kanstantsin Siutsou the winning effort of the day came with just three kilometres to the finish as Sagan launched a move on the final climb of Libby Hill.

The Slovakian was trailed by Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet and newly crowned Tour of Britain winner Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway, but he utilised his superb descending skills to establish a clear advantage over his rivals.

The Slovakian drew attention to the refugee crisis in Europe following the race ©Getty Images

Despite a brief worrying moment when his foot pulled out of his cleats causing a slight hesitation, Sagan, who has been forced to settle for second place finishes on numerous occasions in 2015, held on to claim a deserved victory in a time of 6 hours 14min 37sec.

Rather than opting for a characteristically extravagant celebration, Sagan opted to use his post-race interview to draw attention to the refugee crisis in Europe whilst reflecting that the victory was the highlight of his career.

"Today I was just waiting and waiting, I had my brother with me and my teammates were always with me," he said.

“If something happened they were always there.

"It was a little bit crazy during the last laps, and I thought everyone had to be tired.

"I gave everything on the last cobblestone climb and then it was full gas until the finish.”

Australia’s Michael Matthews and Ramunas Navardauskas were among the pre-race favourites and they secured podium positions, with Matthews edging out his Lithuanian rival to secure silver after both men crossed three seconds adrift of the popular winner Sagan.