Petr Vakoc won the Czech Republic Road Championship on Sunday, which means the Czech Champion colors stay in the Etixx-QuickStep team for a second consecutive season. Zdenek Stybar won the Czech road title in 2014. Leopold Konig was 2nd in the 2015 edition behind Vakoc, and Jiri Polnicky was 3rd.

"It's amazing," Vakoc said of his victory. "It's the first time I became national champion on the road in all my life, so it's a really great feeling. I knew I had a chance to win today, but it was a really hard race until the last meters.

"The race really started at 40 kilometers to go more or less, with the big guys like Peter Sagan, Jan Barta, Roman Kreuziger, and Konig starting to accelerate. There were a lot of attacks.

"At 20km to go I took my own chance to attack. I went and was joined by Sagan, and also Konig arrived. In the last cimb Sagan attacked, and I followed, and we dropped Konig. I was pushing to keep him away to try and win this title.

"In the finale we came together again, all 3 of us. Sagan went and he won the Slovak title. Konig and I started playing a bit for the Czech title. I attacked at 500 meters to go just before the top of the climb. I gave everything and took a small gap. When I looked behind me I saw that I was alone and I could finally celebrate my victory.

"But it wasn't easy. It was raining the entire day and the competition was really hard in the final. But I am happy, I showed in Baku I had good condition, and this win is basically icing on the cake. I really can't wait to ride with this jersey. I was often 2nd and 3rd in these championships in the past, but a national championship is another level. I want to celebrate this big achievement now with my family."