Teams & Riders Peter Sagan discussion thread.

[May0maniac]

Re:

I dont think his yesterdays performance is reason to bash him. We just dont know how strong he was, from helicopter view its evident that he had mechanical problem long before his bike change. I personally think he was strong enough to follow Degenkolb or Stybar and be beaten by them on velodrome Cobbles also no problem this year, which was the case in the past (you can see him struggling on pave during his last year P-R attack or on Oude Kwaremont). But overall his spring was bad one, once again. OK he was close in MSR and one of the strongest in RvV. But he is lacking any differentiating skill against the bests, no trick pony at the moment. He is missing either stamina or speed in the finales.
Kristoff and Degenkolb are everything that Sagan was supposed to be.
As hrotha corrected, in fact his 2013 season was the best ever, 22 victories, monument podiums etc. Thats what confuse me - he was stellar in Quebec and Montreal races, improving gradually from 2010, and suddenly several months later he wasnt the same rider again. Thats why I am reserved to that "early peaking Eastern boy" explanation (based on the theory of exaggerated training and racing load in early career). I think its in his head, he was successfull too soon and without big effort and suddenly something changed and he was not ready to face it. Too many PR stuff and popularity etc. It happens not only in sport, its very common in life. Successfull careers are usually zig-zags.

Yesterday was not a good indicator, he had mechanical problems and was sick.
This year will be a transitional year for him, last year he was a bit slimmer than in 2013 but had lost some of his sprinting power, that's the reason why he put on more muscle mass durning this winter, to get more raw power. Right now he still lacks a little bit of stamina, he tends to fade at the end of hard races (Strade Bianche, E3 and RVV) after being one of the strongest riders, but I'm pretty confident that he'll get back on track.
Maybe I should post this one in the Clinic, but in my opinion his decline started when Slongo went to Astana.

 

[Blakeslee]

Tinkov showing his colors in this article (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/broken-shifter-spoils-sagans-chances-at-paris-roubaix), he sounds like a real jerk. Sagan should leave this team as soon as possible.

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

I'm not referring to the unbiased reality but to the cycling trope, and the trope references the likes of Berzin, Popovych, Karpets or, since you brought up former Czechoslovakia, Kreuziger.

Well Kreuziger isn't example fot his. Hw won Amstel, was second on San Sebastian, fifth in TdF...

Still far from what many people expected from him back in 2008, especially considering he had already been top 10 at the TdF at 23-24. Similarly, Sagan is still getting good placings this year - 4th at the Ronde, for example.

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

Tinkov showing his colors in this article (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/broken-shifter-spoils-sagans-chances-at-paris-roubaix), he sounds like a real jerk. Sagan should leave this team as soon as possible.

I think Tinkov is telling it like it is. Its better than the usual sugar coated sh$$ we normally hear.

 

[Red Rick]

For someone who supposedly had to take a *** after 20k of racing he was doing very well in Roubaix. If the pieces fall together he'll win a lot

 

[coimbrawu]

In this interview:
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ent-166821" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" rel="nofollow
Sagan said he moved to Monaco because he can ride in winter and his private life is almost nonexistent in Slovak.

He also said he didn't like training...(so he does like training right now? Or he still doesn't like training?)

 

[ray j willings]

Its a tough old life being a pro racer.

 

[sienna]

He's still cooler than BW though.

 

[SKSemtex]

Re: Re:

I'm not referring to the unbiased reality but to the cycling trope, and the trope references the likes of Berzin, Popovych, Karpets or, since you brought up former Czechoslovakia, Kreuziger.

Well Kreuziger isn't example fot his. Hw won Amstel, was second on San Sebastian, fifth in TdF...

I do hope that you are right whatever you wanted to say by that.

 

[Dedelou]

he will always have "Paris" in green in case anything else fail

 

[jmdirt]

Guy said today: 'Sagan can't win anymore because of the bike switch.' I dismissed that as silly, but now I find myself wondering how much difference a bike can make (especially if the new bike just isn't right). I know that bike has won a lot of races under other riders, but maybe it isn't working for Peter. And once something like that gets in your head it could be tough to get over it.

 

[SeriousSam]

The bike! Why yes of course. Must be the bike.

 

[Pippo_San]

As someone mentioned, since he stopped working with Paolo Slongo somehow his performances looked worser and worser.
Nowadays the bikes are all similar performance wise.

 

[HelloDolly]

A bad carpenter blames his tools

 

[SeriousSam]

And he wins a stage at the prestigious Tour of California!

 

[Netserk]

He will probably win a stage in Suisse as well, I guess. I hope he won't win/participate in the nationals though. I think there is a correlation between how much he glows and how strong he is.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

Tinkov showing his colors in this article (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/broken-shifter-spoils-sagans-chances-at-paris-roubaix), he sounds like a real jerk. Sagan should leave this team as soon as possible.

A barker. Year-around. And the worst part, he smears all of his workers openly in the press, even threw the founder in the dust-bin. One of the biggest assholes cycling had/has to endure.

You are right, Sagan should leave asap. All of them should. Then Olga can bark solely to his 500 rubel slaves...

 

[SeriousSam]

Tinkov criticised, then Contador took the maglia rosa and Sagan won. Coincidence? You decide

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Who knows? All I know is Sagan owned the ToC in the past (yes, yes, Cav wasn´t there then). Anyway, he was just over-due. Has got nothing to do with the barker. And AC certainly don´t need Olga (his money yes, but not his *** trou the media, or his "tactical" advises and cycling "knowledge"). That is for sure...

 

[KGB]

Re:

Tinkov criticised, then Contador took the maglia rosa and Sagan won. Coincidence? You decide

Lol I don't think Sagan is after Oleg big mouth to much stressed or now just because of that he will do better.Maybe Contador is but definitely not Sagan))).He won and he will win because he is just hungry to win and be with bests.He gives a fcuk what Oleg is saying in media and hopefully he will be there end of his contract and collect 4 mil every .every year.Russian just need to pay even without big results yet..

 

[Jancouver]

As always, Sagan has been showing good form in California. That being said, it is clear that he will not beat Cav in a long straight flat drag-race especially starting the sprint several bike lengths behind Cavendish.

One can just wonder how many races he would have win if he was the last man on the Etixx train ...

 

[IndianCyclist]

Sagan should also do track for 2016 Rio, He has good potential

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Sagan should also do track for 2016 Rio, He has good potential

I dont think so. With a very few exceptions, mostly only the Aussies and the Brits are interested in track Olympics

 

[IndianCyclist]

In the road race or TT he will never win. too few teammates or flat courses. Switching to track might give him a medal. Viviani is doing it and Sagan i think is better or equal to him.
PS Oleg might get off his back if he wins a medal

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

In the road race or TT he will never win. too few teammates or flat courses. Switching to track might give him a medal. Viviani is doing it and Sagan i think is better or equal to him.
PS Oleg might get off his back if he wins a medal

Viviani came to road racing from track background. Sagan on the other hand, probably never even sat on a track bike.

BIG difference.