Teams & Riders Peter Sagan discussion thread.

[DonEsteban]

Re: Re:

I really hope he does Strade next year. The race has Sagan written all over it.

I don't know, I think the final climb is too much for the current weight Sagan. It was perfect for the young, lighter Sagan, but that is long gone....

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

Has anyone informed Sagan that the Spring classics have started?

He will not even do Strade

Patxi Vila says that Strade is the hardest race of them all and the one that takes the biggest toll - especially if it's rainy like last year. And given that they want Sagan to stay in condition until Liège this year, they have decided that his first race will be Tirreno-Adriatico.

Strade is a big hole in his palmarès and it still pisses me off that Moreno Moser was allowed to take it in 2013 when Sagan could have won it with two fingers in his nose.

Allowed, that's an interesting way to put it.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Has anyone informed Sagan that the Spring classics have started?

He will not even do Strade

Patxi Vila says that Strade is the hardest race of them all and the one that takes the biggest toll - especially if it's rainy like last year. And given that they want Sagan to stay in condition until Liège this year, they have decided that his first race will be Tirreno-Adriatico.

Strade is a big hole in his palmarès and it still pisses me off that Moreno Moser was allowed to take it in 2013 when Sagan could have won it with two fingers in his nose.

Allowed, that's an interesting way to put it.

Yeah, okay, it was a comparable way to how Jungels won Liège last year - having the best rider behind, ruining all collaboration.

So maybe not the best word, but in some way, the tactics apparently did allow him to try his own instead of just setting up Sagan.

But at that time it was difficult to foresee that Sagan wouldn't easily win the race another year.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Has anyone informed Sagan that the Spring classics have started?

He will not even do Strade

Patxi Vila says that Strade is the hardest race of them all and the one that takes the biggest toll - especially if it's rainy like last year. And given that they want Sagan to stay in condition until Liège this year, they have decided that his first race will be Tirreno-Adriatico.

Strade is a big hole in his palmarès and it still pisses me off that Moreno Moser was allowed to take it in 2013 when Sagan could have won it with two fingers in his nose.

Allowed, that's an interesting way to put it.

Yeah, okay, it was a comparable way to how Jungels won Liège last year - having the best rider behind, ruining all collaboration.

So maybe not the best word, but in some way, the tactics apparently did allow him to try his own instead of just setting up Sagan.

But at that time it was difficult to foresee that Sagan wouldn't easily win the race another year.

He maybe had the 2nd best, you and I know well that the best is guy in your avatar

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Has anyone informed Sagan that the Spring classics have started?

He will not even do Strade

Patxi Vila says that Strade is the hardest race of them all and the one that takes the biggest toll - especially if it's rainy like last year. And given that they want Sagan to stay in condition until Liège this year, they have decided that his first race will be Tirreno-Adriatico.

Strade is a big hole in his palmarès and it still pisses me off that Moreno Moser was allowed to take it in 2013 when Sagan could have won it with two fingers in his nose.

Allowed, that's an interesting way to put it.

Yeah, okay, it was a comparable way to how Jungels won Liège last year - having the best rider behind, ruining all collaboration.

So maybe not the best word, but in some way, the tactics apparently did allow him to try his own instead of just setting up Sagan.

But at that time it was difficult to foresee that Sagan wouldn't easily win the race another year.

He maybe had the 2nd best, you and I know well that the best is guy in your avatar

Except the guy in both my and tobydawd's avatar wasn't the best guy last year at LBL. He even said after the race that he raced LBL on empty and needed some time off the bike. (Which he took about 3 weeks totally off the bike after LBL). He said he started cramping about 2/3rds through the race and was doing everything he could just to have a good finish. So Jungels likely did have the best guy running collaboration for him in that group.

 

[Lequack]

Maybe he heard us, he just posted this:
PS: He's got rid of his beard and is now sporting a mustache.

 

[Jano]

Merckx's comments on Sagan: ‘Sagan is a complete rider, but I was more complete’
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/5608/sagan-is-a-complete-rider-but-i-was-more-complete-eddy-merckx-qa

 

[barmaher]

Why is he wearing the WC jersey?

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Why is he wearing the WC jersey?

You can wear anything on a training ride

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Why is he wearing the WC jersey?

That's the NC jersey.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

Why is he wearing the WC jersey?

That's the NC jersey.

Yup. It just has the rainbow trim on the sleeves for a former World Champ.

 

[barmaher]

My mistake. Carry on.

 

[Keram]

Very subpar season so far. I am curious if he can turn things around.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Very subpar season so far. I am curious if he can turn things around.

If he has a bad classics season you can say he has been subpar so far, but saying it now is just laughable.

 

[tomorrow]

Re: Re:

Very subpar season so far. I am curious if he can turn things around.

If he has a bad classics season you can say he has been subpar so far, but saying it now is just laughable.

yup, but as of now, it seems Bora should concentrate on Bennet. Sagan just can't possibly have the shape. Even his positional skills seem to be broken at the moment. On the other hand, in MSR, anything can happen, even a Nibali win.

 

[hayneplane]

Re: Re:

Very subpar season so far. I am curious if he can turn things around.

If he has a bad classics season you can say he has been subpar so far, but saying it now is just laughable.

yup, but as of now, it seems Bora should concentrate on Bennet. Sagan just can't possibly have the shape. Even his positional skills seem to be broken at the moment. On the other hand, in MSR, anything can happen, even a Nibali win.

From a race scenario perspective it just might be turning into his best opportunity as Sam Bennett is a plausible bunch finish winner and more durable on lumpy courses than most sprinters so Sagan can sit on any attacking move and play the waiting game and other teams won't be able to rely on him chasing down everything.

I hope very much he can win MSR as it is the most obvious winnable gap in his palmares and he has been in the frame almost every time he has ridden it but never conquered it.

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

Very subpar season so far. I am curious if he can turn things around.

If he has a bad classics season you can say he has been subpar so far, but saying it now is just laughable.

yup, but as of now, it seems Bora should concentrate on Bennet. Sagan just can't possibly have the shape. Even his positional skills seem to be broken at the moment. On the other hand, in MSR, anything can happen, even a Nibali win.

From a race scenario perspective it just might be turning into his best opportunity as Sam Bennett is a plausible bunch finish winner and more durable on lumpy courses than most sprinters so Sagan can sit on any attacking move and play the waiting game and other teams won't be able to rely on him chasing down everything.

I hope very much he can win MSR as it is the most obvious winnable gap in his palmares and he has been in the frame almost every time he has ridden it but never conquered it.

I think this is a good assessment. MSR is a long race and nobody will have a good lead-out coming into the sprint if it is sprint. Sagan in form will be there. He seems to also just been coasting through this TA and just gone for the sprints. Which he didnt do that bad in tbh. Better than Gaviria did. So maybe he is just more focused on his targets and going in a little under-cooked for this classics season.

 

[Leinster]

The line from Bora was that he’s starting his season late, and sacrificing Strade Bianche, to be competitive in late April in the Ardennes. We’all have to wait and watch over the next few weeks to see if that’s true.

 

[Screecher]

He needs a monument to save the first part of his season. He is most suited to Flanders and that's his best chance.

 

[tomorrow]

Re: Re:

Very subpar season so far. I am curious if he can turn things around.

If he has a bad classics season you can say he has been subpar so far, but saying it now is just laughable.

yup, but as of now, it seems Bora should concentrate on Bennet. Sagan just can't possibly have the shape. Even his positional skills seem to be broken at the moment. On the other hand, in MSR, anything can happen, even a Nibali win.

From a race scenario perspective it just might be turning into his best opportunity as Sam Bennett is a plausible bunch finish winner and more durable on lumpy courses than most sprinters so Sagan can sit on any attacking move and play the waiting game and other teams won't be able to rely on him chasing down everything.

I hope very much he can win MSR as it is the most obvious winnable gap in his palmares and he has been in the frame almost every time he has ridden it but never conquered it.

Bennet there is obviously huge option for Bora's DSs. However, the presence of Sagan is more benefitial to Bennet's winning than vice versa. With Bennet there, as you said, Sagan will try to go with some suicide attack, or even to his own one. However, if he joins somebody, that somebody will stop working and give a damn about sagan's other very plausible option in the bunch. So sagan either will cooperate or they will be caught. So imho, with Bennet's presence, Sagan will still have to bet it all on one card, the question is which will it be. I hope it's the attacking one, because attacking Sagan makes the racing exciting, although it might not be the best type of Sagan regarding his palmares.

 

[tobydawq]

He says he broke his finger in Tirreno last year. Was that from leaping over Gaviria?

 

[Screecher]

Re:

He says he broke his finger in Tirreno last year. Was that from leaping over Gaviria?

Gaviria broke his finger, not Sagan.

 

[Blanco]

He needs a monument to save the first part of his season. He is most suited to Flanders and that's his best chance.

To save?! His season barely started!

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

He says he broke his finger in Tirreno last year. Was that from leaping over Gaviria?

Gaviria broke his finger, not Sagan.

Lol, pretty embarrassing from Cyclingnews. Because in a recent article they quote Sagan as saying this:

"Things will be totally different on Saturday at Milan-San Remo," he said. "We've done some long hard races, but I think that'll be good for the Classics. They start on Saturday with Milan-San Remo and we'll see what happens. Last season I broke a finger here in Tirreno-Adriatico so I'm happier this year. I'm not worried. I've got some days to rest up and recover. I know I'm ready."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/peter-sagan-and-sam-bennett-to-lead-bora-hansgrohe-at-milan-san-remo/

But actually, this was Gaviria who said that in this article from Monday which is about Sagan in the first part but ends with a couple of quotes from Gaviria:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/peter-sagan-things-will-be-totally-different-on-saturday-at-milan-san-remo/

:lol:

 

[Bardamu]

Re:

The line from Bora was that he’s starting his season late, and sacrificing Strade Bianche, to be competitive in late April in the Ardennes. We’all have to wait and watch over the next few weeks to see if that’s true.

Not sure if the course change in LBL has increased his chances. With the traditionally conservative racing I'd see him winning, but this year the peloton will attack from afar. Don't see Sagan keeping up in that case.

Hope he feels good tomorrow. Due to his previous illness he's not considered the #1 favorite, but I don't see him dropping on the Poggio and he'll be surely there if an elite group is formed.