News – Sagan finally gets the win

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Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan broke the trend of second places by winning stage 4 in Tour of California

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News – Sagan finally gets the win

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Picture – PhotoSport International. uk usa asia   

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan broke the trend of second places by winning stage 4 in Tour of California proving that he is indeed in his element when racing in the sunshine state, where he has now won 12 stages. In the final sprint, Sagan beat Wippert and Cavendish to the line.

After crossing the line as winner of stage 4 to Avila Beach, Sagan dedicated his victory to teammate Maciej Bodnar, who had crashed out of the race on stage 3.

“I want to dedicate this victory to Maciej Bodnar because he had a very bad crash and had to go home. Then, I want to thank all my teammates, who did a lot of work in the crosswinds to get me in a position to take this win.”

“In the finish, we lost Bennati due to a flat tire with three kilometers to go, but Breschel, Mørkøv and McCarthy did a very good job in the last two kilometers to bring me to the front, while Cavendish were a bit behind in the last turns”, explains Peter Sagan, who now sits 2nd in the overall GC, 22 seconds down on leader Skujins.

After having finished 2nd three days in a row, Sagan showed obvious signs of relief bumping his bike against the tarmac, as he crossed the line. A couple of crowd-pleasing wheelies later, Sagan explained how he had tackled the finale.

“It was a technical sprint and before the final corners I was a bit behind but regained positions in the corners just before the finishing straight. I remember this finish from last year, but it was different back then, where Jens Voigt won. But I knew the corners and I could make sure that I went into the sprint in a good position”, says Sagan, who is now just 1 point away from the green jersey that he has won the last five editions.

Not hiding the fact that the spring season left him wanting more, Sagan says that the win comes at a good time. “I think this victory is good for everybody, for me and for the team. I’ve been a pro for six years and perhaps it’s getting more difficult to win, as everybody is looking to me in the finales unlike my first years, where I was surprising everybody. Pressure or no pressure, sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t, and today I’m just happy to take the victory”, adds Sagan.

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3rd for Cavendish
Etixx – Quick-Step’s Mark Cavendish finished 3rd after an attack by Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team) with about a kilometre to go, and several corners to go in the final few hundred meters, meant the bunch arrival would be far from routine.

Etixx – Quick-Step put six riders on the front with 6.6km to go in support of Cavendish, who won the first two stages and was wearing the Green Jersey. Giant-Alpecin and Tinkoff-Saxo were also trying to control the front, but the combination of Oss’s late race attack and the nature of the parcours, got in the way of a well organised group arrival.

Still, Cavendish launched from more than six riders back and earned 3rd in the stage. Afterwards on twitter, he said “Lost my balls today in the last few corners & ended up coming from WAY too far back in the sprint. Bit pissed I let down Etixx QuickStep. On a positive note, actually really happy for @petosagan getting the win. The guy’s a superstar.”

Julian Alaphilippe remains the Best Young Rider and is still 4th GC (+44″). Cavendish remains the leader of the Points Classification by a single point (40) over Sagan.

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