First of all, this whole thing is extremely blown out of proportion and the hypocrisy in some is astonishing. Some people just found a nice scapegoat in Sagan, instead of focusing on the real problems in cycling or society in general it is much easier to point fingers at a 23yo kid and a harmless joke he did and pretend that it is the only thing that is wrong regarding gender issues. I'm sure that most of the people crucifying Sagan for this have never really given a single thought about the sexism of the actual existence of podium girls and some of them will later spend some quality time in their PC's porn folder. Apparently it is completely fine if women get paid to look pretty and kiss random men but what Sagan did was a disgusting act of objectifying women and the root of all gender inequality problems in cycling. Seriously?
I find it unbelievable how some people throw around words like "sexual assault" to describe a playful joke of a young kid that the podium girl seemed to find funny too. And if it's true what someone said, that Sagan and the girl already knew each other as they were flirting after his Gent victory, it is even more understandable. Most importantly, none of the people condemning Sagan took the time to wonder how the girl herself felt about it. Again, nothing indicated that she wasn't comfortable with it and she didn't complain afterwards either. And truth be told, if I was a girl, I could imagine worse things than getting my *** pinched by a young, handsome, rich, superstar athlete. Oh the horror!
Moreover, all the critics seem to know everything about Sagan's character and what a misogynist he is from seeing one (maybe slightly inappropriate) joke and a t-shirt he wore in his private time with friends. I'm sure that Sagan's mother and his older sister that raised him would have something to say about that.
Seriously people, if you're worried about gender inequality, you are barking at the wrong tree. Give that guy a break. He is a young kid full of testosterone having the time of his life. It was not the first nor the last nice *** to get grabbed. Big deal.
Most importantly, you are degrading Cancellara's amazing victory too. In the last 20 pages of the race thread, you could find maybe 1-2 posts regarding Fabian. Actually, Sagan probably gave him more props than all the posters combined:
"I'm very happy for the second place. Fabian rode really well and today I was just not good enough for him. He attacked on the last climb, I tried to hold on to him but he was faster. Today the best rider won."
I chose option 4 because screw all the Holy Willies.