Etixx - Quick-Step rider Michal Kwiatkowski, racing for Poland as the defending UCI World Road Champion, finished 8th in the 259.2km UCI World Road Championship in Richmond (United States) on Sunday. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) will don the rainbow stripes next, as he left the peloton behind on 100m, 19% gradient 23rd Street with about 2.8km to go in the race. He won the gold medal ahead of Michael Matthews (Australia) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania).
Etixx - Quick-Step rider Niki Terpstra, who tried a brief attack with 3.6km remaining, finished 13th for the Netherlands. Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) accelerated shortly before that on Libby Hill. Etixx - Quick-Step riders were aggressive throughout the race, especially Tom Boonen (Belgium) and Kwiatkowski. Those two made a dangerous 9-rider breakaway, which started after an attack from Ian Stannard (Great Britain), which Boonen followed. That group collaborated well, but the peloton, with several national teams missing the move, brought them back, initially with 13 riders having a small gap, and then a total regroupment before the 15km to go mark.
The pace of the peloton became blistering on the road circuit inside 100km remaining, with constant attacks and splits in the peloton. The tempo never lessened, and it became clear a group arrival was highly unlikely. Two riders were caught on the final lap as they reached Libby Hill, which was when Stybar started the next series of attacks before Sagan launched the winning move.