Sagan first, Cancellara second. A better spot for cycling is hard to imagine after the one offered by the finale of the 15th edition of the Tour of Flanders. A popular celebration for Belgium after weeks of fear with a million people pouring onto the streets of the Ronde, a competitive show with the two super-favorites of the eve who engaged in a breathtaking challenge, staging a sort of stopwatch, in the last 19 km when the race caught fire due to the acceleration of Peter Sagan who gave up first Kwiatkoswki and then Vanmarke while Fabian Cancellara started on the Paterberg, the last wall of the XNUMX Ronde, a furious chase, cradling the dream of becoming a legend with a fabulous poker.
But this season's Sagan is very different from that of previous years, always among the first but who almost never knew how to win: the rainbow jersey gave him a boost and a conviction of his own strength that transformed the spectacular Slovakian tightrope walker, great class, bold but not very tactical, in a deadly runner who knows how to seize the right moment to sprint then dosing his energies in the best possible way as never before. A young champion in front of which even an old hero of the northern classics like Cancellara had to bow down.
The Swiss was a locomotive dragging a tired Vanmarke behind him but he was unable to mend the tear even though he glimpsed the silhouette of the world champion ahead on the long final straights. Indeed the 10 seconds charged at the passage to the top of the Paterberg became 25” at the finish line in Oudenarde. A show among giants, exciting and unique. This time the winner was the youngest champion who, after his success in Ghent-Wevelgem, achieved his first classic-monument. Cancellara finished second, with his arms raised, waving to the public who gave the right ovation to the Swiss champion who was racing the Ronde for the last time after having won it three times.
Sagan's joy, Cancellara's disappointment and emotion: these were the feelings that filled the post-race at the finish line in Oudenarde. Once the Ronde has been filed, it's already time to think about Sunday's Roubaix with its terrible pavé. An announced protagonist such as Greg Van Avermaet will be missing, who fell in the race with a collarbone fracture, but they, Sagan and Cancellara will still be there for the umpteenth challenge with the Swiss who will do everything to take his revenge by aiming for the poker of victories that would bring him in the club of record holders until now reserved for two big Belgians from the past like Roger De Vlaeminck and from the present like Tom Boonen.
Speaking of Tornado Tom, at the Ronde he showed signs of an awakening arriving 15th. He could also, despite his advancing age, have a little thought about a legendary "manita" ...
