Peter Sagan beats Egan Bernal comfortably in sprint finish to claim inaugural Giro d'Italia Criterium Dubai
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Published 06/11/2021 at 14:55 GMT
Peter Sagan came home ahead of 2021 Giro champion Egan Bernal to claim the inaugural Giro d'Italia Criterium Dubai following a sprint finish. Sagan and Bernal were part of a four-rider breakaway with four kilometres of the 63km race to go and kicked again on the final lap. Behind them, Marc Hirschi won the sprint for third.
Cycling Giro d'Italia Criterium: Sagan triumphs ahead of Bernal
Bora-Hansgrohe rider Peter Sagan came home ahead of Egan Bernal to win the inaugural Giro d’Italia Criterium Dubai following a sprint finish.
Sagan and 2021 Giro champion Bernal were part of a four-rider breakaway, alongside Marc Hirschi and Geoffrey Bouchard, with two laps and just over four kilometres of the 63km race to go.
On the final lap, with around one kilometre remaining, Sagan and Bernal went clear and it proved to be a fairly comfortable sprint win for the former.
Hirschi came home ahead of the rest of the field to finish third.
"I’m very happy that I could be here, and this is a special race for all of us from the Giro d’Italia. I think we had the best riders from this year’s Giro. This short criterium is a special thing," Sagan said.
"It’s nice for the fans. This criterium is special because this is the Expo in Dubai and all the world is here. I’m very happy with this win, a victory is much better than not.
"I just appreciated that I could be here. I have to say thanks to my teammates because they controlled the race for me and did a really good job."
He continued: "From the start I tried to be in the front, also for the points classification. After two sprints I saw Elia [Viviani] was much better and so I tried a different tactic.
"It was really fast, and definitely someone was going to go in the last three laps, and I had to recover and wait for the last two laps.
"I just decided I was going to stay on the wheel and see what was going to happen. It just happened so fast that three guys attacked, and I went at the last moment. I almost missed it, and in the end was good."
The Giro d’Italia Criterium Dubai was an exhibition race that consisted of 30 laps of a 2.1km circuit, which was formed in the shape of the Giro’s ‘Amore Infinito’ symbol.
Elia Viviani won the points classification, Attila Valter was judged the most combative and Filippo Ganna claimed the fastest lap.
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