Peter Sagan (Cannondale) showed amazing power to overcome his rivals in a strong 11-man group from which he received no help, in today's Brabantse Pijl. Outnumbered by the BMC and Omega Pharma-Quick Step teams, he admitted that the final had been difficult to handle.

Peter Sagan returned to competition after a 9-day break in today's Brabantse Pijl. He made it clear that he had not slowed any down in his race-free period by beating world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) in a thrilling battle.

However, the victory was not an easy one for the young Slovakian. As the lone Cannondale rider in the 11-man front group, he had no help in the final part of the race. Furthermore, he was up against two riders from both the Omega Pharma-Quick Step and BMC teams, and the remaining riders did not want to help the pre-race favourite at all when a dangerous move with Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) went off the front inside the final 2km.

In an impressive manner, he single-handedly closed down the duo on the final climb before accelerating to drop all but Gilbert and Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil). Finally, he beat the duo in a sprint to take his 8th victory of the season.

After the race, he admitted that he had been in a difficult situation in the final part of the race.

“The final was the most difficult part of the race” he explained. “I was in a minority situation, first of all compared to Omega-QuickStep and BMC, and all the riders left the responsibility to stop the attacks to me. I found the good chance on the last climb. I set a hard tempo  to close the gap to Van Avermaet and to leave behind as many riders as possible."

"It was big effort," he continued. "In the final straight we had a headwind and Gilbert was just behind me. I thought about doing a short sprint but his attack anticipated my plan. At that point I only had to follow and try to pass him. I’m really happy to have done it.”

Ready for the Amstel Gold Race

Today's race was mainly a preparation event ahead of Sunday's Amstel Gold Race. The Dutch classic is one of the Slovakian's pre-race targets after he finished 3rd on the Cauberg last year.

“Since the beginning of the season, Amstel has been one of my targets," he said. "I didn’t race Paris-Roubaix to be in top condition. The Brabante Pijl win is an important signal for me. I expect a close challenge on Sunday."

Originally, the Amstel Gold Race was the last race on his spring schedule but after the Tour of Flanders he left open the possibility to also ride the Fleche Wallonne. However, he excludes the possibility of riding the biggest of the Ardennes classics.

"A race like Liège-Bastogne-Liège is certainly too difficult for me, but I can handle the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. Today's race was mainly a test. I felt good all day and then you might as well try to win."

Today's victory is the second major one-day win for Sagan after his triumph in the Gent-Wevelgem earlier this year.