Mark Cavendish will head to the 2016 Abu Dhabi Tour having narrowly missed out on the world road race title to Peter Sagan in Doha.
Sagan, who won the 2015 title in Richmond, retained the championship in a tight sprint finish to deny Britain’s Cavendish.
“I am still in total shock, I am very, very happy,” Sagan, 26, said.
• Abu Dhabi Tour 2016: Teams, road closures, schedule and everything you need to know
His victory in Qatar on Sunday means Sagan is only the second rider to retain the road race world title since Italy’s Paolo Bettini in Germany in 2007.
Sagan rode a masterful race throughout and was able to squeeze an opening as the sprinters bunched towards the finish line.
It caps a remarkable season for the Slovak who won the points classification at the Tour de France for the fifth consecutive year and the European Road Race championships only last month.
Many had predicted that the race, the final competition of the road world championships, would come down to a shootout between Sagan and Cavendish, and so it proved.
But the Briton, who won the event in 2011, appeared to be checked behind Australia’s Michael Matthews as he made his final push towards the line. Belgium’s Tom Boonen finished third.
Cavendish next travels to the UAE capital for the four-stage Abu Dhabi Tour, beginning on Thursday.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
