The first European Champion in the Elite category is Peter Sagan who wrote today in Plumelec (France) a new chapter in the history of cycling.
The strong Slovak athlete dominated in the final part of a race that was particularly hard fought over 17 laps of a 13.7 kilometres circuit including the climb 'Côte de Cadoudal. At the finish, Peter Sagan beat the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe and the Spaniard Daniel Moreno.
More than 25,000 spectators were gathered in Morbihan to watch a very high level event in the heart of Brittany.
The race was action packed right from the first few kilometres dominated by Risto Raid (Estonia), Andrii Bratashchuk (Ukraine), Pirimin Lang (Switzerland) and Bert-Jan Lindeman (Netherlands). The breakaway managed to gain more than 11 minutes. Lindeman was the last to go, before the race got really heated up with a long series of attacks.
At the start of the last lap, the Italian Moreno Moser, already third in the time-trial on Thursday, broke away from the peloton and managed to get well ahead of his opponents. However, they caught him up on the last kilometre when another Italian, Davide Villella, relaunched the action. Peter Sagan was the first rider to catch up Villella and then continue his own sprint allowing him to win the first Elite European title in history.
David Lappartient, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: "We have experienced five days of great sport in Plumelec that will be remembered for a long time. This region loves cycling and the passionate public in Morbihan demonstrated this with the extraordinary welcome we received. Technically speaking, we witnessed very high level races that allowed top class riders to show their talent like Anna van der Breggen and Peter Sagan, who are the first Elite European champions and have shown who will be the future stars. All these factors and also the coverage broadcast in approximately eighty countries, have proved that we have set off on the right footing with an event that promises to get even bigger. At the end of these five days, I would like to thank Stéphane Hamon, Mayor of Plumelec, François Goulard, President of the Department of Morhiban, Jean-Yves Le Drian, President of the Brittany Region and the French government."
