Who’s the man?
He’s got the swagger, the boyish good looks, the innate talent and now, thanks to Tinkoff-saxo, a fortune in the bank. What he doesn’t have is the Monument win he wants so much. Cyclist meets Slovakian superstar Peter Sagan and asks whether 2015 is the year he matures into one of the sport’s true greats
It’s early December and Cyclist is in Gran Canaria to meet cycling’s hottest property, Peter Sagan, as he settles into his new team, Tinkoff-saxo. The 24-yearold (he turned 25 in January 2015) seems very relaxed, confident and happy to talk – but our photoshoot has unexpectedly hit a snag thanks to UCI regulations.
‘Unfortunately, we can’t have photos of Peter in his Tinkoff kit go public until 1st January 2015,’ says Tinkoff’s communications director, Pierre Orphanidis. ‘He’s contractually obliged to wear Cannondale apparel until 31st December 2014. So we must remain in this room for the pictures.’ Outside in the hotel corridor prowl Danish journalists. The year before, they were haranguing team manager Bjarne Riis over historic doping allegations. Now they’re here for Peter and it has created a cagey atmosphere. ‘One online image of Peter in Tinkoff kit and the team will be in trouble,’ warns Orphanidis.
Sagan’s stock is so high that our interview is being carefully monitored by Orphanidis, who hovers nearby. Tinkoff-saxo certainly know the value of managing exposure. As soon as the last verses of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ have been sung, Tinkoff’s PR team will go into overdrive and release a slew of videos of Sagan wheelieing and bunny hopping his new Specialized around a golf course, adorned in Tinkoff-saxo kit.
Team owner Oleg Tinkov realises the value of communication – something that has helped him to amass a personal fortune of $1.4billion, according to figures in Forbes. Back in March 2014, Cyclist interviewed Tinkov at TirrenoAdriatico and he knew then that Sagan was the man to deliver the Tinkoff brand to a global audience. ‘It’s not signed yet but there’s a big chance that we will [sign him],’ the Russian had told us. ‘Why not? He’s the best rider in the peloton in terms of image, wins and value.’
Rich rewards
Tinkov almost got his man in the autumn of 2013 when he came close to buying Team Cannondale. That didn’t come off so, as is the wont of a Russian billionaire, he evolved from main sponsor to owner of the Russian team. Twelve months later he finally had Sagan, the Slovakian securing a reported €4million per annum for three years. Young, handsome, a boy’s sense of fun – it seems that Sagan is a mirror image of a young Tinkov. And he, too, understands the importance of communication.
‘It’s important for everybody – for the team, for me, for people – to deal with the press,’ he says. ‘It’s all part of the process and I’m happy with that.’ The perception of Sagan as a ‘funster’ is exacerbated by him now living in Monaco, though he emphasises he’s ‘never been clubbing or to the casino’. I’m unsure whether he says this for my benefit or Orphanidis’s, but there’s no doubting that despite winning the green jersey for a third time, 2014 was the toughest year of his professional career by his own high standards. His palmares remains devoid of a major Classic victory and, in all, he won ‘only’ eight times.
‘It’s not a problem,’ says Sagan. ‘I have belief in myself.’ It could be a problem though, according to sports psychologist Vic Thompson. Thompson has worked with many elite and recreational sportsmen and warns of the dangers of winning too much, too soon. ‘If an athlete achieves significant early success, they can receive a lot of positive attention, compliments and comments about how good they are and how great they will become. This can lead to a “softer” approach to training and racing, resulting in sub-par performances.’ (See box, below opposite).
‘Yes, sometimes training is boring, sometimes good,’ retorts Sagan. ‘You have good days, bad days, but I’m focused. There’s a lot of core
‘I’ve always been very competitive. That’s why the training is fine but it has always been about the racing for me’
and gym work at this time of year; plenty of bodyweight exercises and a lot of squats. They’re very important. I’ve always been very competitive. That’s why the training is fine but it has always been about the racing for me.’
Change for the better
You suspect Sagan’s move to Tinkoff-saxo comes at the right time. Beyond the fiscal remuneration that’s up there with Alberto Contador’s, he’s joined one of the strongest teams on the Worldtour. In 2014, Contador won the Vuelta, the team won two stages of the Tour de France, and Rafal Majka won the King of the Mountains jersey.
‘This is a stronger team, yes,’ says Sagan. ‘There are many strong riders on this team, so I’ll have a greater chance. It’s also great that [Ivan] Basso’s come to the team. I’m very good friends with
Ivan. I’ve been riding with him since we joined Liquigas.’ Several times in 2014 Sagan was left exposed by Cannondale, with little domestique support at the sharp end of races. Exposure shouldn’t be an issue in 2015. Sagan will line up with uber-domestique Daniele Bennati and the experienced Michael Rogers, alongside fellow new recruits Pavel Brutt from Katusha and Robert Kiserlovski from Trek, both durable riders who’ll offer valuable support. Sagan’s brother, Juraj, also joins from Cannondale, and could be the most valuable signing, offering familiarity and trust in Sagan’s very public world.
‘It’s important to have my brother here, he says. ‘When I started on the bike, I always trained with my brother. It’s very good to have family with me – very important.’
‘I was OK up to 5,000m. That’s when I began to have problems with headaches and balance. At the top I vomited’
Mountain to climb
The ink had barely dried on his three-year contract before Sagan and his brother had experienced team bonding Tinkoff style. This year Bjarne Riis dispensed with paintball and raft building, and instead his employees climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. The Dane is notorious for his brutal training camps. In the past, his pupils have driven blindfold, clambered up poles and navigated the frozen waters of Denmark.
Ascending Kilimanjaro, the expedition faced the worst weather conditions seen there in a decade. ‘I was OK up until the 5,000m mark,’ says Sagan. ‘That’s when I began to have problems with headaches and balance. At the top I vomited. It was like having a hangover.’
Talking of hangovers, I enquire as to how Sagan’s induction ceremony went the night before. The older, wiser Sagan remains tightlipped about what went on or what was drunk. There’ll also be no chance of a celebratory drink at his season opener, the Tour of Qatar, which is followed soon after by the Tour of Oman.
‘I’ll then race Tirreno-adriatico [11th March], before heading into the Classics.’ For Sagan they will start with Milan-san Remo on 22nd March, before he looks to defend his E3 Harelbeke semi-classic title [27th March]. Two days later it’s Gent-wevelgem, the ‘semi’ that remains the biggest one-day win of his career to date (in 2013). ‘It all went well that day. I felt good from the moment I woke up,’ he recalls. ‘And the conditions really suited me with a couple of punchy climbs and miles of flat terrain. And it was cold. So cold.’
It certainly played to Sagan’s strengths. Held in freezing conditions, a group of 11 went clear with 60km remaining of a shortened race. With 4km to go, Sagan broke free, going solo to take victory. He has never been allowed to pull away in the big Classics, however, the peloton monitoring his every pedal stroke, every twitch, every intention, with the diligence of an owl watching its prey.
April is the month that will define Sagan’s 2015 season. Tinkoff-saxo’s recent Classics palmares is disappointing. That’s the reason he’s been brought here. ‘My favoured victory would be Flanders and then Roubaix. Roubaix is bigger but Flanders is good for my characteristics.
I know I can do it.’ At only 25 years of age, the Classics are already becoming an albatross around the Slovakian’s neck. Like Raymond Poulidor at the Tour – who finished second three times and third five times – he’s been oh-soclose many times. In 2012 he finished fourth at Milan-san Remo, fifth at Flanders and third at Amstel Gold. A year later, he got another second at San Remo and second at Flanders. In 2014, his best Monument finish was sixth at Paris-roubaix.
I raise the question of mounting pressure. ‘I’m not riding the races for anyone else [in reference to the media]. For sure I want to win but the pressure comes from me. I want to win but it just hasn’t happened yet.’
Sagan is now in good hands. Fabian Cancellara joined Team CSC (precursor to Tinkoff-saxo) in 2006 as a time-triallist. The following four seasons saw Riis turn Cancellara into a one-day specialist. By the time the Swiss moved on to Leopard Trek in 2011, he’d won Paris-roubaix twice, Milan-san Remo and the Tour of Flanders. Cancellara also didn’t win his first Classic until the age of 26. Tom Boonen was 25, the same age as Sagan. Sean Kelly was 27. Between the three of them they went on to win 23 Classics.
Eyeing the Tour
Sagan will also be looking to win his fourth Tour de France green jersey in a row. Now a disciple of Tinkov and his ‘win everything’ doctrine, he remains confident he can do it despite the team’s priority to dress Contador in yellow. ‘People marked me at the Tour but this team – and me – have the versatility to deliver.’
At the 2014 Tour, Sagan is best remembered for securing seven top-five finishes in a row without registering a victory – an unwanted feat only bettered by Charles Pelissier racking up eight in 1914. In his career, Sagan has ridden 63 stages of the Tour de France, 58 in green. He’s finished 26 times in the top five. It’s an incredible record, but that consistency might not serve him so well at this year’s Tour after ASO confirmed a change to the green jersey points classification for the nine flat stages of the 2015 edition, with the winners collecting 50 points – 20 more than second. On the mountain stages that points difference is just 10. It’s a sign that the organisers want the points jersey to go to stage winners, not just consistent performers.
‘I’m not worried about those changes,’ Sagan tells us. ‘I’m always looking for victories, always ready to put it on the line. I’m proud of my record with the green jersey. And I always like winning. It’s a great motivation.’
Winning came naturally for Sagan from an early age. He was born in Zilina on 26th January 1990, the youngest of three. His father Lubomir and mother Helena ran a grocery store in the recently dissolved sovereign state of Slovakia. Sagan briefly dabbled with football but, at the age of seven, his parents entered him and Juraj into a race organised by the Salezians and Zilina cycling club. They won their respective age categories, joined the host club, and were soon training and racing regularly on mountain and road bikes.
The brutal winters meant knobbly tyres were more common than slicks. ‘I raced a lot on the mountain bike when I was young, and cyclocross,’ Sagan says. ‘They not only made me strong for the road, but also really helped with handling. You can’t hone technique as an adult like you can as a kid. As a kid, it’s all about fun.’
Zilina is situated in the north-west of the country and features rugged mountains – the perfect topography for a keen young cyclist to build power and stamina. That is until the snows fall. Then, for Sagan, skis would replace wheels, with winters seeing the young Slovakian skiing, hiking and cross-country skiing, the latter further strengthening his natural engine.
The physical demands of cross-country skiing mean top athletes register VO2 max figures similar to a horse. (The joint secondhighest ever recorded is an astonishing 96ml/ kg/min by Norwegian cross-country skiers Espen Harald Bjerke and Bjorn Daehlie. In first is cyclist Oskar Svendsen at 97.5ml/kg/ min.) Sagan’s mix of cycling and cross-country, supplemented by his favourable genes, created a rider who’s equally at home on the sprints as on punchy climbs. It’s like he was born to ride.
‘That’s not the case,’ he says. ‘When I was growing up it wasn’t all about cycling. I wanted to do all things: be a dancer, an actor, sumo wrestler… everything. I had ambition to do something incredible but never talked about becoming a pro cyclist. That changed in 2008.’
That year, cycling chameleon Sagan won the junior mountain bike world championships in Vale di Sole, Italy, followed by second at the junior cyclocross world champs. He also finished second at the junior Paris-roubaix behind Brit Andrew Fenn, who recently joined Team Sky from Omega Pharma-quick-step. The results caught the eye of Continental team Dukla Trencin-merida. Sagan joined them and, in 2009, he won two stages of the Mazovia Tour. He quickly followed that by signing for Liquigas-doimo, and was racking up victories and plaudits galore. With his celebratory ‘running man’, ‘chicken’, ‘Hulk’ and ‘juggler’
‘When I was growing up it wasn’t all about cycling. I wanted to do all things: be a dancer, an actor, a sumo wrestler…’
winner’s salutes, Sagan stood out from the stoic demeanours of his contemporaries. His joyful sense of humour has captured a huge fanbase. When he pinched a podium girl’s bum at the 2012 Flanders, an apology soon followed, but it didn’t seem to be a problem for his supporters, with 5,000 Slovakians taking photos of themselves pinching their mates’ buttocks. Such ‘exuberance’ contrasts slightly with his choice of cycling hero. ‘When growing up I had lots of idols from sport,’ he says. ‘From cycling it was Jan Ullrich. He was such a powerful rider. I was always happy to see him do well at the Tour.’
Ullrich grew up in communist East Germany, often coming over as dour. Sagan, on the other hand, is the embodiment of the capitalist dawn: brash and confident. At the age of three his home country, Czechoslovakia, went through a relatively amicable split – so much so it was termed the ‘Velvet Divorce’ – the result being the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It brought capitalism and, with it, potential rewards.
Now Sagan is aiming to help others benefit from his own success with the launch of the ‘Cycling Academy by Peter Sagan’ – a team that includes five Israelis, four Poles, two Slovakians and one Czech rider. ‘It’s not my team but they use my name. I know the organiser of the project, Ron Baron. If all goes well, maybe in the future we’ll open more around the world. Maybe in Africa, South America…’
Battle scars
As the sun sets on our Canarian interview, Sagan looks happy. A bit like when Hooper and Quint compare scars in Jaws, Sagan describes his bodily war wounds with an open mix of pain and pride. ‘This one on my right hip is from the Sardinian stage of the 2013 Tour. Another one on my wrist is from racing in Italy at U23 level. And this one’s real good.’ He points to his forearm to reveal a trail of lighter scarred skin against his all-year tan. A crash at the 2010 Tour Down Under left him needing 18 stitches.
It reminds you how much Sagan has experienced for someone so young. Strip away the history of victories, the near misses and bravado, and you have one of the most naturally gifted cyclists ever to grace the professional road circuit. A rider who still hasn’t ruled out ‘becoming a GC contender in the near future’. The danger is that his marketability becomes a distraction from the riding; that without a raft of Classics victories, those wheelies and the showboating will be what defines him.
Right now, Sagan claims to be completely unconcerned: ‘I’m confident in my abilities,’ he says. ‘Very confident. And at the end of the day, it’s only bike racing.’
‘I’m confident in my abilities. Very confident. And at the end of the day, it’s only bike racing’
James Witts is the Peter Sagan of the journalistic world – without the bum pinching