Sagan Clean?

[red_flanders]

Re: Re:

Weird, I keep clicking on this thread to read about Sagan. Maybe next week.

This year he was arguably the worst he's been since Tinkoff criticised him after the spring of 2015. Let's wait until he wins the Amstel on sunday, then we'll have something new to talk about.

Have we been watching the same races? Won GW and Roubaix fairly convincely. He wasn’t quite his top form in still Flanders but still looked better than most aside from Terpstra.

Agreed. Winning Roubaix from 53k out and "worst he's been" seem fairly at odds.

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

Weird, I keep clicking on this thread to read about Sagan. Maybe next week.

This year he was arguably the worst he's been since Tinkoff criticised him after the spring of 2015. Let's wait until he wins the Amstel on sunday, then we'll have something new to talk about.

Have we been watching the same races? Won GW and Roubaix fairly convincely. He wasn’t quite his top form in still Flanders but still looked better than most aside from Terpstra.

Agreed. Winning Roubaix from 53k out and "worst he's been" seem fairly at odds.

It’s because of Sagan’s massive talent that we underrate outstanding accomplishments. Sagan is the LeBron of cycling, he has an impossible standard to live up to. Compare the criticism of Sagan’s string of 2nds to the praise a rider like Stuyven receives for multiple high placings in a spring campaign without wins and then try to tell me that Sagan is immune from criticism.

Now, back to the thread topic. Sagan’s form is strong throughout the classics, the TDF, and worlds on a consistent basis. It’s been this way for 7 seasons now. Sagan has never had a “normal” campaign. He’s never been completely off form. I think it’s fairly clear at this point that the uci doesn’t care. That should be the real criticism of Sagan, that his star is so bright that he can take doping to laughable levels and people won’t care.

 

[noddy69]

Re: Re:

Thank you for saying this. LS, I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts as you have a depth of knowledge rivalled by few others. Please don’t sink to the level of the trolls.

You mean like those many Sagan fans who set on all posts critical of their man like a Froome fan wandering unaware into the Clinic, until posters simply don't bother, and silence all negative opinions and who were attacking and mocking me in conversations about him that I hadn't even participated in? Maybe it's got better now and it's possible to hold a critical opinion without it being made to feel unwelcome (I've noticed the treatment of many posters whose positions were much less vitriolic than mine, before you ask), but since Sagan and the furore that surrounds him have become a huge dent in my enjoyment of the sport, I simply don't watch any race he's in and avoid the discussions at least on race days when emotions are riding high, to try to stop getting into arguments like I used to.

This thread is one of the few where a discourse which can be both supportive of, and critical of, Peter Sagan has been able to flourish, for better or for worse (and given some of the ridiculous stuff like the Gummi Bears, often for worse admittedly), and I thought self-deprecating humour was a good-natured way to steer the conversation back towards its intended subject without either personally attacking Pisti or Sagan himself. Unfortunately for me, it fell flat.

It's funny how you are trying to ignore all the positive that Sagan has done for the sport and still view him as some rapist who committed the biggest sin when he pinched the podium girl.

Actually, it is not funny, it is sad that some real cycling fans could be so stubborn.

... and I don't believe it one bit that you do not watch any race with Sagan because, like most of us around here, you love cycling more than you are willing to admit.

All the positive he has done for the sport ? He wins races .....what good has he done for the sport only get a few fans and make it a little more popular. It gets on my nerves when that line gets rolled out as if it matters, its an Omerta line aimed to deflect away from the realism of how he gets results.

What would be doing good for the sport is taking drugs out of it, not showboating when you win and flicking your mullet around !

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

Weird, I keep clicking on this thread to read about Sagan. Maybe next week.

This year he was arguably the worst he's been since Tinkoff criticised him after the spring of 2015. Let's wait until he wins the Amstel on sunday, then we'll have something new to talk about.

Have we been watching the same races? Won GW and Roubaix fairly convincely. He wasn’t quite his top form in still Flanders but still looked better than most aside from Terpstra.

Agreed. Winning Roubaix from 53k out and "worst he's been" seem fairly at odds.

It’s because of Sagan’s massive talent that we underrate outstanding accomplishments. Sagan is the LeBron of cycling

The only way this hilariously misguided sentence could be forgiven is if you just started watching cycling a short time ago.

On what planet is Sagan in cycling at the level of LeBron in basketball? He's not Hinault or Merckx, mate.

 

[red_flanders]

Re: Re:

On what planet is Sagan in cycling at the level of LeBron in basketball? He's not Hinault or Merckx, mate.

Point taken, but neither is LeBron.

And I'll object to lumping Hinault in with Merckx. There is Merckx. Then much later there is everyone else.

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

It’s because of Sagan’s massive talent that we underrate outstanding accomplishments. Sagan is the LeBron of cycling[/quote]

The only way this hilariously misguided sentence could be forgiven is if you just started watching cycling a short time ago.

On what planet is Sagan in cycling at the level of LeBron in basketball? He's not Hinault or Merckx, mate.[/quote]

They are both the best athletes in their sport at the moment. I'd say that's a fair comparison.

 

[Koronin]

Personally I think Steph Curry is as good as a LeBron and Sagan is one of several cyclists whom would be the best depending on who you're talking to about who is currently racing.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Weird, I keep clicking on this thread to read about Sagan. Maybe next week.

This year he was arguably the worst he's been since Tinkoff criticised him after the spring of 2015. Let's wait until he wins the Amstel on sunday, then we'll have something new to talk about.

Have we been watching the same races? Won GW and Roubaix fairly convincely. He wasn’t quite his top form in still Flanders but still looked better than most aside from Terpstra.

Agreed. Winning Roubaix from 53k out and "worst he's been" seem fairly at odds.

It is probably the worst he's been since 2015, but he has been at his very best in the other two years, just unlucky at times. He's had much better luck this year, and in Roubaix and GW played it smart.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

LS mate, if the Sagan love here gets your pulse up this much, you'd go on a killing spree on a few other cycling forums.

I can't be sure of the exact words but over on reddit/peloton someone said something along the lines of....if Sagan stabbed a baby everyone there would applaud and claim the baby had it coming, or somesuch. It was an accurate description. The Sagan love over here may be over the top biased, but it's tame in comparison to other places

There's plenty of it in the proper media as well. He could inject himself with EPO in a press conference and half the journalists would rave about his needle technique.

You just described the Media's reaction to Valverde.

It's hilarious to see them jack off to him when they slam others like Ricco for doping.

 

[Parker]

Re: Re:

LS mate, if the Sagan love here gets your pulse up this much, you'd go on a killing spree on a few other cycling forums.

I can't be sure of the exact words but over on reddit/peloton someone said something along the lines of....if Sagan stabbed a baby everyone there would applaud and claim the baby had it coming, or somesuch. It was an accurate description. The Sagan love over here may be over the top biased, but it's tame in comparison to other places

There's plenty of it in the proper media as well. He could inject himself with EPO in a press conference and half the journalists would rave about his needle technique.

You just described the Media's reaction to Valverde.

It's hilarious to see them jack off to him when they slam others like Ricco for doping.

You're reading/hearing different media to me then. (Quite likely. I only refer to English language media)

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

LS mate, if the Sagan love here gets your pulse up this much, you'd go on a killing spree on a few other cycling forums.

I can't be sure of the exact words but over on reddit/peloton someone said something along the lines of....if Sagan stabbed a baby everyone there would applaud and claim the baby had it coming, or somesuch. It was an accurate description. The Sagan love over here may be over the top biased, but it's tame in comparison to other places

There's plenty of it in the proper media as well. He could inject himself with EPO in a press conference and half the journalists would rave about his needle technique.

You just described the Media's reaction to Valverde.

It's hilarious to see them jack off to him when they slam others like Ricco for doping.

In fairness to the media it’s difficult to criticize a rider for doping if they haven’t been caught. Criticizing a rider for doping without proof is a good way to get yourself sued.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

LS mate, if the Sagan love here gets your pulse up this much, you'd go on a killing spree on a few other cycling forums.

I can't be sure of the exact words but over on reddit/peloton someone said something along the lines of....if Sagan stabbed a baby everyone there would applaud and claim the baby had it coming, or somesuch. It was an accurate description. The Sagan love over here may be over the top biased, but it's tame in comparison to other places

There's plenty of it in the proper media as well. He could inject himself with EPO in a press conference and half the journalists would rave about his needle technique.

You just described the Media's reaction to Valverde.

It's hilarious to see them jack off to him when they slam others like Ricco for doping.

You're reading/hearing different media to me then. (Quite likely. I only refer to English language media)

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180413_03461020

They're comparing strava records during training rides to actually racing a 260KM race lol. It boggles the mind how stupid this writer is.

 

[Parker]

Re: Re:

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180413_03461020

They're comparing strava records during training rides to actually racing a 260KM race lol. It boggles the mind how stupid this writer is.

Yeah, we had that in the UK too. It's just a dumb story, similar to making a story about a tweet. 'Journalism' these days has to churn out stories for clicks. It's not really Valverde worship though,which I'm sure exists. But not to the extent of Sagan. Some of the media look at him like a Directioneer looks at Harry Styles (complete with stories about his new hairstyle)

 

[hrotha]

I thought Pisti was never the first one to bring up Valverde. Oh my.

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

This year he was arguably the worst he's been since Tinkoff criticised him after the spring of 2015. Let's wait until he wins the Amstel on sunday, then we'll have something new to talk about.

Have we been watching the same races? Won GW and Roubaix fairly convincely. He wasn’t quite his top form in still Flanders but still looked better than most aside from Terpstra.

Agreed. Winning Roubaix from 53k out and "worst he's been" seem fairly at odds.

It’s because of Sagan’s massive talent that we underrate outstanding accomplishments. Sagan is the LeBron of cycling

The only way this hilariously misguided sentence could be forgiven is if you just started watching cycling a short time ago.

On what planet is Sagan in cycling at the level of LeBron in basketball? He's not Hinault or Merckx, mate.

There will never be another Merckx or Hinault. Those days when one guy can do it all are long gone and Sagan is the closest version that we may see these days.

There are not very many guys that can win cobbled classics, be competitive at lumpy courses similar to Amstel or even win a flat-out sprint.

Just look at those sprinters like Cav, Kittel, Greipel, cobbled specialist such Terpstra or Sep or those climbers such as Valverde, Nibali, Alaphilippe etc. None of those guys can do even two out of those three Sagan can do.

It is just a different era and it is sad that so many around here are unwilling to accept that.

So yes, Sagan is almost the cycling version of LeBron ... but again LeBron can only do one thing ...

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

This year he was arguably the worst he's been since Tinkoff criticised him after the spring of 2015. Let's wait until he wins the Amstel on sunday, then we'll have something new to talk about.

Have we been watching the same races? Won GW and Roubaix fairly convincely. He wasn’t quite his top form in still Flanders but still looked better than most aside from Terpstra.

Agreed. Winning Roubaix from 53k out and "worst he's been" seem fairly at odds.

It’s because of Sagan’s massive talent that we underrate outstanding accomplishments. Sagan is the LeBron of cycling

The only way this hilariously misguided sentence could be forgiven is if you just started watching cycling a short time ago.

On what planet is Sagan in cycling at the level of LeBron in basketball? He's not Hinault or Merckx, mate.

There will never be another Merckx or Hinault. Those days when one guy can do it all are long gone and Sagan is the closest version that we may see these days.

There are not very many guys that can win cobbled classics, be competitive at lumpy courses similar to Amstel or even win a flat-out sprint.

Just look at those sprinters like Cav, Kittel, Greipel, cobbled specialist such Terpstra or Sep or those climbers such as Valverde, Nibali, Alaphilippe etc. None of those guys can do even two out of those three Sagan can do.

It is just a different era and it is sad that so many around here are unwilling to accept that.

So yes, Sagan is almost the cycling version of LeBron ... but again LeBron can only do one thing ...[/quote]


What about Gilbert?

When Valverde was younger he did get involved in full field sprints and as Catalonia proved this year in certain circumstances he still will. Nibali has raced Flanders once, let's see what happens if he goes back.
On the other hand both Nibali and Valverde have won classics and a Grand Tour (Nibali multiple, Valverde 1 with several podiums). Sagan is never going to win a Grand Tour. Also Valverde was competitive at Dwars.

 

[Nomad]

I wonder if Sagan were to slim down and focus his training on climbing could he win a GT? I saw him climb Mt. Baldy at the TOC a few years back where he looked phenomenal finishing 6th just 47 secs back of the winner JA. I know this is an era of cycling now where big guys can't climb anymore and the "skin & bones" or diminutive body type is the preferred build for GT contenders. That being said though, I never thought a bigger rider like Dumoulin would ever win a GT.

 

[Wiggo's Package]

I wonder if Sagan were to slim down and focus his training on climbing could he win a GT? I saw him climb Mt. Baldy at the TOC a few years back where he looked phenomenal finishing 6th just 47 secs back of the winner JA. I know this an era of cycling now where big guys can't climb anymore and the "skin & bones" or diminutive body type is the preferred build for GT contenders. That being said though, I never thought a bigger rider like Dumoulin would ever win a GT.

Yes indeedy

When he joins Team Sky

Age 32

Jeroen Swart has the "he just lost the fat" paper ready to go (auto-replace "Froome" with "Sagan")

 

[veganrob]

Swart would actually have to come up with another stupid narrative. Sagan would have to lose a lot of muscle also. I'm sure they are working on it though

 

[Bolder]

Sagan is a fabulous, fairly versatile rider, and when you couple his outsize personality to his accomplishments, you have a recipe for "the best."

Returning to the topic at hand -- it would be a shame if he was busted a la Froome. I don't think he's any cleaner or dirtier than the average rider in the pro peloton. But ask me again if he's still winning major races at age 37...

 

[Wiggo's Package]

Re:

Swart would actually have to come up with another stupid narrative. Sagan would have to lose a lot of muscle also. I'm sure they are working on it though

Good point

Is Swart smart enough to auto-replace "Froome" with "Sagan" and "just lost the fat" with "just lost the fat and muscle"?

Have my doubts

But if the consultancy fees are high enough, and with Brailsfraud having final say on what actually gets published, Jerome won't let us down

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

The Sagan love over here may be over the top biased, but it's tame in comparison to other places

I bet worst situation is probably on Slovakian and then Czech forums and discussions (quite a few Slovakians are visiting Czech discussions but it doesn't happen other way round for some reason). There if you dare to say something what isn't exactly complimenting Sagan, you are done. Of course it's worst when you say something true about him what fanboys realize is true; then they are pretty mean. Mostly by Slovaks but some Czechs too. You can't say uncomplimenting truth about their idol.
Some Slovaks nicknamed him God.

 

[Kokoso]

I wonder if Sagan were to slim down and focus his training on climbing could he win a GT? I saw him climb Mt. Baldy at the TOC a few years back where he looked phenomenal finishing 6th just 47 secs back of the winner JA. I know this is an era of cycling now where big guys can't climb anymore and the "skin & bones" or diminutive body type is the preferred build for GT contenders. That being said though, I never thought a bigger rider like Dumoulin would ever win a GT.

I don't think so, if he could, I think he would do that already. Why? Sagan wants to be the best. To win Paris - Roubaix is nice, but to win Tour de France is much, much more.

That was pretty B-level field back there at ATOC. Alaphillippe won that mountain stage, that says it all. He wasn't climber he's now back than. Heck, Boswell was third!

This is not era where big guys can't climb aynway, see Dumoulin. He's skinny of course, as any cyclist out there, but he is not that skinny. He is no Poels.

 

[86TDFWinner]

I wonder if Sagan were to slim down and focus his training on climbing could he win a GT? I saw him climb Mt. Baldy at the TOC a few years back where he looked phenomenal finishing 6th just 47 secs back of the winner JA. I know this an era of cycling now where big guys can't climb anymore and the "skin & bones" or diminutive body type is the preferred build for GT contenders. That being said though, I never thought a bigger rider like Dumoulin would ever win a GT.

Yes indeedy

When he joins Team Sky

Age 32

Jeroen Swart has the "he just lost the fat" paper ready to go (auto-replace "Froome" with "Sagan")

well done

 

[86TDFWinner]

Re: Re:

The Sagan love over here may be over the top biased, but it's tame in comparison to other places

I bet worst situation is probably on Slovakian and then Czech forums and discussions (quite a few Slovakians are visiting Czech discussions but it doesn't happen other way round for some reason). There if you dare to say something what isn't exactly complimenting Sagan, you are done. Of course it's worst when you say something true about him what fanboys realize is true; then they are pretty mean. Mostly by Slovaks but some Czechs too. You can't say uncomplimenting truth about their idol.
Some Slovaks nicknamed him God.

Replace Sagan W/Nibali/Froome or Wonderboys names, and that's spot on.