PETER SAGAN
BORA HANSGROHE
Cycling is now so dominated by periodisation that riders target eversmaller windows of the season. But Peter Sagan appears to have the ability and desire to debunk the sports scientists and this spring he has set his sights on winning Milan-San Remo, on the cobbles of Flanders and northern France and perhaps even on the Ardennes côtes of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Victory at Liège on his debut will be difficult but the descent to the new finish in central Liège will help him. Just the decision to race on until the end of April highlights Sagan’s eclectic range of talent and ambition.
“The classics are physically and mentally hard to complete as a block and it’s going to be very hard to go from Milan-San Remo to Liège, but why not go for it?” Sagan asked almost unconsciously when he talked about his plans during the Vuelta a San Juan.
New challenges and their risks are the test of greatness. Sagan is 29 and has won over 100 races, three world titles, six Tour green jerseys, Flanders and Roubaix.
Not even Sagan can stretch his form and ability too thinly, so he’s made choices to allow him to be at his best from San Remo until Liège. In 2018 Sagan sacrificed a shot at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad so he could race Amstel Gold. Sagan was fourth after refusing to lead the chase of Michael Valgren, Roman Kreuziger and Enrico Gasparotto. It confirmed that he could compete in the Ardennes.
Sagan missed both the opening weekend in Belgium and Strade Bianche this year, training longer at altitude in Spain’s Sierra Nevada with Tirreno his last block of racing before his spring campaign.
Sagan will only confirm his Liège start after Roubaix. However his coach Patxi Vila knows Sagan is always able to push himself further, and carefully crafted his programme. “We are getting used to this kind of stuff with him. It seems unnatural, but he does it,” Vila explained to Tuttobiciweb over the winter.
“When you’re an ‘out-ofcontrol’ talent it is difficult to find a way to improve further because nobody has travelled that road before but that’s the journey we want to take.”
Sagan plays down expectations, instead focussing on racing. “I work hard to make sure I still enjoy it all,” he says. “It’s what I choose to do. In the end, it’s the only thing I have. It’s what I’ve been doing since I was nine years old.”