Teams & Riders Peter Sagan discussion thread.

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WOOHOO PS!
Dropped on the final climb today, on a sprint stage contested by Colbrelli (1st) and Ulissi (5th). In years past, those would be some of the guys that Sagan's team would be trying to drop on a hilly enough stage. I don't know what it is, but I've been saying for a while now that he really doesn't look like as comfortable a climber any more.
 
Dropped on the final climb today, on a sprint stage contested by Colbrelli (1st) and Ulissi (5th). In years past, those would be some of the guys that Sagan's team would be trying to drop on a hilly enough stage. I don't know what it is, but I've been saying for a while now that he really doesn't look like as comfortable a climber any more.
He very obviously isn't climbing as well as he used to. All you need to do is look at his results. He said yesterday that it was his only chance for a victory. Maybe him and his team overstimated the difficulty of today's stage and he possibly could've hung on but that would've changed the dynamic of the race imo as riders wouldn't want to sprint against Sagan and he would've had no teammates left to control attacks.
 
Dropped on the final climb today, on a sprint stage contested by Colbrelli (1st) and Ulissi (5th). In years past, those would be some of the guys that Sagan's team would be trying to drop on a hilly enough stage. I don't know what it is, but I've been saying for a while now that he really doesn't look like as comfortable a climber any more.
I don't think Ulissi is a good example here. He's been a way better climber than Sagan for his career so far. Actually is the other way around. Normally Ulissi is the one who'd try to drop Sagan on the climb, because he gets beaten 9 times out of 10 in a sprint.

But yeah, Sagan doesn't climb as well as he used to. But I agree with the two posters above. Maybe he didn't try hard enough to hang on today, because he overstimated the stage. But I think he can still climb better than most sprinters on selected days. We'll have a clearer picture in the Giro.
 
Did you account for changing rankings? Most of his Tour of California stage wins (and his GC win) were when it wasn't yet WT.
Yeah, I only counted WT or Pro Tour races of that particular year, that's why for example Cavendish has 6 wins less because Giro and Tour weren't included in the Pro Tour :eek::oops:!!! Greipel has 1 Giro stage cut off, and Valverde has 4 wins less due to Liege, Tour and Vuelta weren't Pro Tour races...
Also Valverde's record could've been better if Pro/World had existed in 2003/04, he had 3 Vuelta and 2 Itzulia wins.
WC and Olympics RR and ITT also weren't included (except for WCRR in 2005:confused_old:?), biggest victims being Cancellara, Sagan and Tony Martin...
 
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It wasn't called the World Tour Ranking though, but only the World Ranking. I know I'm being quite pedantic here, and I'm not trying to take anything away from Sagan's accomplishments, cause those 67 wins are pretty impressive no matter what.
You're right, UCI World Ranking indeed. They later merged with Pro Tour in 2011, so results from races that were part of it were considered as WT level, or at least I understood it that way...
 
It confirms the hypothesis that he didn't go all out yesterday. Of course, the short climbs made it easier for him as well, and he generally does well in bad weather even if he always says he doesn't like it.

But yes, very encouraging, and he seems ready for the Giro.
 
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