Sagana faces a hard fight for the fourth title of world champion: These will be his biggest competitors – Športky.sk

BRUSSELS – After winning the race Around Slovakia, Peter Sagan moved to Belgium, where he will have a mass start at the World Championships on Sunday. The organizers have prepared a classic track, which will run from Antwerp to Leuven and measures 268.3 km.

“I think the master will be about something completely different, but there is definitely a better victory over less. It will be a difficult and long race and you will have to be patient.” said Sagan after his triumph in Around Slovakia. He will fight for his fourth world title and although he is one of the favorites, the competition will be extremely busy this year as well. These are, in addition to the Slovak cyclist, the biggest favorites:

Julian Alaphilippe (France)

Last year’s championship was defended by Julian Alaphilippe from France. This year, too, he proved that he is one of the best classicists in the world, either with his performances at the Tour de France, where he triumphed in the first stage or with spring victories at Tirreno-Adriatico or La Flèche Wallonne.

Wout van Aert (Belgium)

The hottest candidate for victory is the home team Wout van Aert. He will try to get the 27th rainbow jersey for Belgium. Eddie Merckx (1967, 1971 and 1974) and two Freddy Maertens (1976 and 1981) won three titles for this country. The last Belgian to win the title was Philipp Gilbert in 2012. Twenty-seven-year-old van Aert was second to Alaphilipp last year, second also to the Tokyo Olympics and the World Championships time trial. He won three stage victories at the Tour de France this season. “I think my form is where I want it,” said van Aert for the cyclingnews.com portal.

Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)

Traditionally, the British will also have a strong team, there are several competitors in their group, who are grinding their teeth for a good position. Among them is veteran Mark Cavendish, who at the age of 36 thwarted the competition at this year’s Tour de France. He won four stages. “Based on what we know about the track and the top form riders, we decided not to go with one team leader, which gives us several options during the race,” noted Stephen Park, CEO of British Cycling.

Sonny Colbrelli (Italy)

The new European champion, 31-year-old Italian Sonny Colbrelli, will also be able to rely on a strong team. In recent weeks, he has shown a famous form after he managed to master the overall classification in the Around the Benelux race and just a week ago he also triumphed in the Italian Memorial Marco Pantani race.

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel returns after back problems. The 26-year-old universal has not raced since the beginning of July, when he resigned from the Tour de France in order to prepare for the Olympic mountain bike races. In Tokyo, he did not finish after the fall. At the end of August, he missed the biker world championship and only a week ago appeared in three smaller one-off road races in Belgium. Still, he can shuffle the cards again.

Other favorites

We cannot forget the winner of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar, and his colleague from the Slovenian national team, Matej Mohorič, who can benefit from mutual cooperation. Another domestic hope after van Aert is the young Remco Evenepoel, the Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen showed excellent legs at the Vuelte, who won three stages on Spanish roads. In addition, names such as Kasper Asgreen and Marc Hirschi are often used.

The 268.3-kilometer stage awaits competitors in the elite category on Sunday. It starts in the large industrial port city of Antwerp, after the initial 50 km, cyclists reach the destination city of Leuven. The main circuit is a 15 km long loop around Leuven, which is characterized by eye-catching, twisting curves in the city center. Four short categorized climbs await the competitors. In another, the second circuit, which the organizers called the “Flandrien’s loop”, this will lead cyclists to greater climbs.

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• Source: CTK, sports, TASR