Peter Sagan (Cannondale) did not take any chances in the finale of Scheldeprijs, choosing to sit up and roll home 27 seconds down on winner Marcel Kittel rather than risk a crash on the notorious finishing circuit in Schoten.
The Slovak’s performance was in keeping with his declarations before the race, when he said that he had come to the banks of the Schelde simply to keep his legs ticking over ahead of Paris-Roubaix.
“The Tour Flanders was a hard race and I need to recover but I’m already thinking about Paris-Roubaix now, and I have to train too,” Sagan told reporters at the start in Antwerp.
“I had a couple of days of rest but now this race is to keep myself in condition.”
Sagan finished a disappointed 17th at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday after entering the race alongside Tom Boonen and eventual winner Fabian Cancellara as one of the troika of favourites for the win.
Sagan will carry out his reconnaissance of the pavé sectors of Paris-Roubaix on Friday as he prepares for his first tilt at the race since 2011.
His Cannondale team have insisted that he lines up at the Hell of the North purely to gain experience for future years, and he, too, was vague about his prospects.
“As for my ambitions, well, we’ll have to see how the race is going and how I’m feeling too. We’ll see during the race,” he said. “It’s always the same – it depends on my legs.” – Cyclingnews
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