SAGAN’S GREATEST HITS

The races that built the Slovakian’s reputation

TOUR OF POLAND 2011

Sagan serves notice of his multi-stage prowess by winning the 68th Tour of Poland. Dan Martin holds a three-second lead over Sagan as the riders enter the seventh and final stage, a relatively flat 128km affair that ends in Krakow. A two-second bonus picked up at the intermediate sprint means Sagan only needs to finish third in the stage to take the overall win. He duly obliges, coming second to Marcel Kittel.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2012, STAGE 1 & GREEN JERSEY

In 2012 Sagan wins his first green jersey by the huge margin of 141 points from André Greipel, the Tour debutant setting out his stall on stage one with victory over the 198km route from Liège to Seraing. Five category-four hills and a punchy climb 3km from the end play right into Sagan’s hands, before the 22-year-old overtakes Fabian Cancellara and fights off Edvald Boasson Hagen down the final straight.

E3 HARELBEKE 2014

The Slovakian begins his 2014 Flandrian campaign in style, winning the 213km semi-classic. A race punctuated by mechanicals, crashes and aggressive riding sees a group containing Sagan, Geraint Thomas, and OPQS teammates Niki Terpstra and Stijn Vandenbergh, hold off a chase group led by Fabian Cancellara. Vandenbergh attacks three times, but Sagan sails through ahead of Terpstra and Thomas.