Please, cycling gods, let me have one glorious year with Sagan and Valverde as teammates.
Just wait for Koronin to come in and point out that this is Valverde's final year, and he's (supposed to be) doing a Spanish Races Only Goodbye Tour!
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Please, cycling gods, let me have one glorious year with Sagan and Valverde as teammates.
Sagan should sooner go to DQS for minimum wage than to Movistar
You are a fan of him. Do you seriously believe signing for Movistar will increase his chances of winning a big race next year compared to DQS?I would much rather see him at Movistar.
He is a cycling god and should never be demoted to an environment with a flat hierarchy with the likes of Lampaert or Sénéchal!
You are a fan of him. Do you seriously believe signing for Movistar will increase his chances of winning a big race next year compared to DQS?
But yes, I do realise I mostly focus on the down-side here and not so much the potential upside... I just don't think he would suddenly be winning left, right and centre if he were to ride for DQS as everybody else seems to think.
The big boss of DQS
I believe that is "Pati Laflave"The big boss of DQS
Movistar actually has a good team of helpers, but they don't have a leader for not so hilly classics. Cortina, Serrano, Erviti, Norsgaard, Jacobs are good support, and if Sagan brings one or two guys with him, I think it's a decent team.How much support could Movistar realistically give him in any race? Unless the deal involves bringing in a bunch of big lumps with him
Don't forget that Patxi Vila is now the one in charge of the performance team and coaching at Movistar. He and Sagan go back and Sagan brought him to Bora initially from Tinkoff. And Sylwester Szmyd could also be part of the package as he is Sagans coach and they are old friends beyond that.
The complicated matter would probably be bike sponsors. Specialized will want to hold onto Sagan. If Sagan doesn't want to go to DQS or DQS doesn't want Sagan and he indeed is going to Movistar there would be the need for a decision. Don't think Movistar would reject the idea of Specialized sponsoring them. And Canyon, being german, would be a good fit for Bora. But do Bora want to change from Specialized? Or onto Canyon? Maybe Canyon want to have Sagan badly on their bikes?
Lots of questions.
And adding to your point: Sagan is a very recognizable link to Specialized products. He'd be jeopardizing long term, post retirement endorsements if he left. It's a rare athlete that can make post-career money and he must be considering that.Canyon already have Van der Poel, so they would probably not be as keen to get Sagan on board as to pay his wages.
They helped him to win GW an PRSagan get pitiful help in Bora anyway in the classics
I don't think he'd be winning left, right, and centre.
But we probably all thought the same about Gilbert when he signed, especially after some quiet years with BMC. And he went and won Flanders and Roubaix.
At this stage in his career, it's not about quantity of wins for Sagan, really. It has to be about quality; winning Gent Wevelgem again, or another Canadian classic, or stages at Suisse or Catalunya, or even a green jersey, won't add much to his Palmares. But 2 monuments seems a low return for his talents, and no MSR is a bit of a gap.
1. MSRI was thinking about which result would improve his palmares the most and my (very personal) list is as follows:
From this point of view Movistar (i.e., Patxi Vila) seems to be the best choice.
- WC RR (in fact any medal)
- OG RR
- Gent Wevelgem
- Strade Bianche
- Any monument ( MSR being the least valuable)