Peter Sagan discussion thread.

[willbick]

Fantastic picture of Sagan, apparently turning into the Hulk, on the steephill Roubaix site.

 

[MatParker117]

Sagan often seems isolated in the big races, either his team need to find better support riders for him or he needs to move to a different team to fulfill his classics ambitions

Tinkoff, Alonso, BMC, Sky?

 

[del1962]

Tinkoff, Alonso, BMC, Sky?

BMC would be best, then of your list Sky though others teams perhaps like Trek or Giant might be better, not sure about Alonso

I doubt Tinkoff would be any better than Cannondale

 

[MatParker117]

BMC would be best, then of your list Sky though others teams perhaps like Trek or Giant might be better, not sure about Alonso

I doubt Tinkoff would be any better than Cannondale

Teams that can afford him are in short supply those four teams have the budget and BMC and Sky would offer him the best support.

 

[Jspear]

Sagan often seems isolated in the big races, either his team need to find better support riders for him or he needs to move to a different team to fulfill his classics ambitions

Personally I think he just needs some better support in the team he is in. What other team could give him the attention and support he would need/want? A lot of the other teams have their stars or specialize in other races.

 

[MatParker117]

Personally I think he just needs some better support in the team he is in. What other team could give him the attention and support he would need/want? A lot of the other teams have their stars or specialize in other races.

Sky/BMC maybe but only in the classics and in one of the grand tours.

 

[The Hitch]

BMC is the graveyard of one day champions.

 

[trevim]

Not very smart tactically but overall a good race. Certainly I like him better today than yesterday. I would like him to skip american races and another sponsors commitments and really focus on the classics. He can win all of them but for now he's one down on guys like Terpstra, VanSummeren, Goss....

 

[hfer07]

Katusha anyone?

Imaging Sagan, Kristoff & Paolini doing the damage

 

[Peter von]

Tinkoff, Alonso, Sky?

BMC!
Hushovd, Evans and Gilbert are all out of contract after this year(IIRC) and they have a really strong team, but their leaders aren't performing in the cobbled classics.

SKY could be good in classics, but it would be Cavendish all over again in the Tour, and besides i think SKY are happy to let Stannard (+ Swift, EBH, GT, Wiggo) have these races as their goals.

If Contador stays and continues to be as strong as this year it would be another Cav-at-SKY-scenario(or Evans at Lotto...), but i think Oleg is willing to give it a go, but i hope Sagan eyes the danger.If Contador leaves the team would need a new star, and unless a new Quintana shows up Sagan would be the best option, they'd need massive investment in their classics squad to help Sagan properly though.

Alonso needs a star and again Sagan is the obvious choice, they would of cause have to sign a number of strong riders to support him. As a team Alonso is still an open question because we don't know what kind of team they want's to become, maybe they'll sign a star and them build around him or maybe they'll sign anumber of team leaders and divide the season between them.

If they all offer the same amount of money(of cause they won't), then i think he should choose BMC, depending on what kind of race programme and goals they would give him.

 

[Jspear]

Sky/BMC maybe but only in the classics and in one of the grand tours.

I don't know about Sky. They focus completely on GC at the tour and Sagan goes for the green jersey at the Tour. We saw in 2012 that they don't support a sprinter and a GC leader very well.

BMC is the graveyard of one day champions.

True, but that could change with Allan Pieper. IF Sagan was with them, they would simply have to stop trying to have 5 different leaders.

 

[Jspear]

Katusha anyone?

Imaging Sagan, Kristoff & Paolini doing the damage

That might work in the classics, but does Kristoff want to give up being top dog at his team for the classics?

 

[SKSemtex]

OPQS I wonder how many races would be won by other team during the spring.

Just joking.

I thing the biggest problem of Sagan is not his domestiques but missing strong co-leader able to win the races. "Sagan card" is too readable a to easy to play against. OK so he lose some races in favour of his co-leader on the other hand he can win the "big" one next time.

Other teams: SKY BMG

 

[TomasC]

BMC has the undeniable advantage for Sagan that is Daniel Oss (don't know if next year). But I think Sagan just needs to follow the rule No. 5 and win no matter what.

 

[coimbrawu]

Transfer to another team should be good for Sagan. Especially he always changed bikes/had mechanical problems/flat in classic races. I can't remember when he didn't have mechanical problem. Just like PR this year, he changed his bike 3 times! Is it a problem for Cannondale or the problem for the terminator (he destroyed many bikes before...)?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sagan-happy-to-give-a-demonstration-at-paris-roubaix

 

[gunara]

That might work in the classics, but does Kristoff want to give up being top dog at his team for the classics?

So go to the team with no real potential winner, but with some sort of leader for classics, like those with Breschel or Langeveld, they should give up.....

 

[alspacka]

Personally I think he just needs some better support in the team he is in. What other team could give him the attention and support he would need/want? A lot of the other teams have their stars or specialize in other races.

Agreed. He just needs Cannondale to recruit 2 or 3 solid endurance riders.

Of the potential moves people have mentioned, I think Sky would be the best choice. Although perhaps Stannard/Thomas would want to leave.

No talk of Garmin? Seems ideal to me. Support from Langaveld, Van Summeren, Nuyens...

 

[Afrank]

Van Summeren and Nuyens haven't really been setting the cobbles alight since their big wins, have they? They might be able to do a decent job as domestiques (they would have to improve from their current level, especially Nuyens), but other teams like BMC or Sky would be able to provide better quality and higher level of domestique for him.

Plus, not sure Garmin could afford Sagan.

 

[alspacka]

Van Summeren and Nuyens haven't really been setting the cobbles alight since their big wins, have they? They might be able to do a decent job as domestiques (they would have to improve from their current level, especially Nuyens), but other teams like BMC or Sky would be able to provide better quality and higher level of domestique for him.

Plus, not sure Garmin could afford Sagan.

This is true, they would of course be domestiques, but no worse than the support he currently has. Plus he'd have Langaveld, who I would guess would be happy enough to be his luitenant. Unlike particularly BMC, who have multiple big names who, whilst under performing, still command protection. They also have TJ, maybe Cadel, for the tour. Garmin would be devoting some resources to Talansky, but unless he improves quite a lot, they could definitely put a lot of their focus on Sagan.
With Sky he'd be completely left to his own devices in the Tour. And as I said I'm not sure Thomas, Stannard & Wiggins(!) would be happy to dom in the classics in future. Thomas already seems quite bitter about it:

"“I was hoping that Brad would hit them in the end, but I guess he didn’t felt confident in doing so. Maybe he was waiting for Fabian to try something, I don’t know. I committed myself for him and that was it.”

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Sagan needs to learn how to ride on cobbles. And that might sound strange, but that's ultimately his weak point in these classics

 

[wayahead]

Sagan needs to learn how to ride on cobbles. And that might sound strange, but that's ultimately his weak point in these classics

Totally agree.

 

[maltiv]

Sagan needs to learn how to ride on cobbles. And that might sound strange, but that's ultimately his weak point in these classics

His weak point is, more than anything, the fact that it's almost impossible to win the monuments as a marked man with a fast sprint, unless you're: 1) the strongest rider in the race or 2) have an insanely strong team.

Boonen could win classics being the 1# marked man and having Sagan's characteristics, but he was (often) the strongest AND had the best team.

Gilbert has had more or less the same problem as Sagan since 2011, he's still marked, but he's nowhere near the strongest and his team isn't good enough to compensate for that.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Sahan needs to decide what kind of rider he wants to be.

Being good at all aspects of cycling is nice, but it won't get you the big wins.

 

[TourOfTexas]

Hes either under trained or over raced this season. After a rest, he'll be back to dominate in the Tour.

 

[Hugo87]

Hes either under trained or over raced this season. After a rest, he'll be back to dominate in the Tour.

He's still going to enter in Tour of California and probably some other race before the Tour, so not much rest at all.

But the green jersey he's waiting for him again.