Re:
I have read couple of statement here and RVV thread and in comment section under the sagan-articles on main page which seems to be adopted as some mantra by antisagan camp of discussion.
1) Sagan should have closed gap to Terpstra in the moment when Terpstra attacked. It was his fault and his tactical stupidity that he did not went with Terpstra.
2)If Sagan is strongest he should have chased and finally catch Terpstra after Paterberg, when it was 1 vs 1. He could not ergo Terpstra is stronger.
3) Sagan is complaining. It is disgusting - because it means that he blame the others and is not able to admit, that he is not best - it is arrogance. He should not be complaining as he is in the same situation as Cancellara and Boonen.
4) He should shut up and find the way how to deal with his marked-man situation.
ad 1) mantra-statement:
3 vs 1 scenario 40 km to the line is THE MOST BASIC principle of “tactics” from children level of bike racing:
- first of trio attacks, isolated guy goes with him, others follow,
- when group is together second guy of trio attacks….isolated guy closes the gap again,
- then third of trio attacks ……and so on, till isolated guy have no energy left.
There is 99% chance that in the end isolated guy is spent and loses.
So if in the group, in which are 3 teams with 3 or 2 riders (QS, ASTANA, BMC) there is NO WAY that isolated guy should be the one who should close gaps - it is in light of aforementioned 3 vs 1 scenario completely *** idea. Because if the others waited for Sagan to do the work they basically put him in 3 v 1 scenario so they decided that he loses…except that ....ups...they lost too. So from tactical point of view in yesterday situation The Others SHOULD immediately, without thinking, knowing elementary principle of cycling, close Terpstra and if they did not, it was THEIR tactical failure, on the other hand Sagan MUST NOT be the one closing gaps…..if he does ti would be HIS failure!
ad 2) mantra-statement:
The gap between Terpstra and Sagan after Paterberg was cca 35-37’’ second. The distance form Paterberg to the line is cca 13 km. So we are speaking about 13 km time trial after 252 km racing in legs. Even one of best timetrialist of history Cancellara could not close gap of 13 sec to Sagan in 2016. So I guess that to close 30 second gap on 13 km after 250 km ALONE is almost impossible - at least sure for Sagan who is unfortunately not best timetrialist(maybe among the first third of peloton in short ones, 10 - 15 km). So no, fact that Sagan did not closed the gap to Terpstra AFTER Paterberg, mano a mano, is NOT a proof, that Terpstra is stronger then Sagan. It is only proof that he was strong enough to hold on the 30 sec advantage.
ad 3) mantra-statement:
Well Sagan is usualy interviewed after race and he is asked to describe what was happened there in the crucial moments of the races. And I believe that it was the EXACT description of what happened there - rest of group waited the isolated Sagan to close the gap - again, it was amateurish failure from rest of group - it is basic math - simple as that. And Sagan is also simple and pretty straightforward in his interviews - he says things as he sees them - without sugarcoating. So usually, first of all, his “complains” are answers to questions what happend. Ok, is there also complaining? I thing he is pretty pissed of because he is victory type of personality and he hate defeats - but this is only part of truth - the other part of truth is, that he is dealing with his disappointment quite good - in his after-loss interview i always hear mixture of his fighter-pittbull-temperament on one side and his joyful easy-stoic approach to life on other side - so in his answers, with the fact that he is REALLY NOT a master of public-presentation-verbality not even in his native language, we are often confronted with this confusing cocktail of his opposing feelings and opposing features of his personality. So yes, there surely is complaining ingredient but together with accepting of tactical nature of cycling and together with respect to winner and together with his stoic tommorow-is-next-race-attitude. In my opinion then, complaining is not definitory aspect of Sagan - quite opposite he strike me as a person with glimpses of quite philosophical meta-view to “ups” and “downs” of his cycling and life.
And ad Cancellara analogy- Cancellara was in the same situation during his career, true - but by all means HE WAS COMPLAINING LOUD AND CLEAR as well - but, let’s admit - it is only natural in such a situations.
ad 4) statement:
Only way how he can individually deal with this situation is somehow become masterlevel timetrialist able of long range solo rides from 50 - 40 km to the line.
Or somehow to get 3 guys to his team to be able be with him to 5 km from line to avoid 3 to 1 scenario.