cycling: Michal Kwiatkowski beats Sagan to win E3 Harelbeke

Cycling: Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) won the E3 Harelbeke for the first time. In an exciting finale, the Pole beat the reigning road world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), with whom he had previously been alone at the top for a long time. Kwiatkowski's teammate Ian Stannard won the sprint of the chasing group ahead of Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo).

Thrilling cycling in Belgium today on Good Friday. After a varied race, Michal Kwiatkowski crowned the exciting finale with the first victory in his new team's jersey. Like last year, second place went to Peter Sagan, who is still waiting for his first victory in the colors of the world champion. The Slovak should feel reassured today that it is much more difficult for him to win races as other drivers are reluctant to work with him.

The race began unusually hectic with numerous, sometimes wild attacks, but all of them fizzled out. It took almost 50km until the first group came together, which also managed to break away from the field. The German Nico Denz (AG2R-La Mondiale) also drove in the leading quintet. In the meantime, the escapees had a lead of more than six minutes on the pursuers, but as the race progressed this gap shrank more and more - especially Etixx - Quick-Step with Niki Terpstra and Tony Martin put a lot of pressure on. Bad luck overtook the well-placed Fabian Cancellara with just under 60 km to go: the Swiss had a defect and had to wait an agonizingly long time for a replacement – ​​at this point Spartacus seemed to have run the race, but he was to prove his doubters a lie.

At the top, the escapees then had to give in to the pressure with almost 50km to go and the field was together again. Etixx - Quick-Step was represented with five riders and apparently controlled the events at will. However, the strenuous track and the high speed soon took their toll and you could see what had happened regularly at the E3 in the past: a tough selection at the top. A little more than 30km before the finish, at the Oude Kwaremont, there were ten riders who had found each other and were able to open up a small gap. This group was filled with prominent figures including Michal Kwiatkowski, Peter Sagan, Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo), Ian Stannard (Sky) and Lars Boom (Astana).

In addition, Fabian Cancellara almost sensationally managed to catch up with this group with the self-sacrificing support of his teammates. However, just as the Swiss joined this group, the attack that was decisive in the end took place: Sagan attacked with Kwiatkowski in tow and the duo actually managed to distance the pursuers – this was also due to the fact that they did not immediately agree and unite Moment too long hesitated before attempting to retrieve the duo. A little more than 25km are still to be driven at this point.

The reigning world champion and his immediate predecessor harmonized very well at the beginning and the lead quickly grew to over 30 seconds - although especially Etixx - Quick-Step with Niki Terpstra also set an enormous pace with the pursuers. But with every kilometer that the two leaders neared the finish line, Kwiatkowski gave more leadership to Sagan, who repeatedly called on his Polish comrade-in-arms to lend a hand. At the same time, the lead melted more and more until the duo was only 5 seconds behind their pursuers with 14km to go.

In the end it was enough for Sagan and Kwiatkowski - but there was no big showdown, because when the Sky driver was able to increase the speed again with the goal in sight, Sagan had to stop completely exhausted. Again, the Slovak only got second place - but today he showed himself to be a fair loser and did not complain about the lack of support: "We worked together but in the end I didn't have the strength anymore - he was just stronger today. Cycling is simple: I attacked and then worked a lot. During the last two kilometers they kept saying to me on the radio: "Pull Peter, pull, the others are coming." I did that and in the end I just couldn't have my legs anymore." Ian Stannard won the sprint of the chasing group ahead of Fabian Cancellara, who was able to work his way up into the top 5 from his hopeless situation.