tour reporter
Peter Sagan is struggling in the Tour de France. He fights with his competitors in the sprints and follows them on the pavement. Apparently the good times are over.
Peter Sagan still dominates the big performance: in front of the French team bus Total Energies they set up a large loudspeaker at the start in the morning. Before the cobblestone stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday (07/06/2022), the pits boomed AC/DC song – “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”.
A big star of cycling
The right one soundtrack to drive over the pavés of the French north. The waiting fans behind the barrier, who still appear in large numbers whenever the Slovak performs anywhere, only got one this time victorySigns required in passing. But at the finish after the end of the stages, he sometimes takes extensive selfie laps along the barriers.
Sagan continues to be a big star in cycling. Three-time world champion, seven-time winner of the green jersey for the best points in the Tour de France, where he has won twelve stages since his debut in 2012. In total, he has 121 victories in his portfolio so far.
The 32-year-old pro cyclist with the rock star image is still winning, but his successes have dwindled. This year he has just one stage win at the Tour de Suisse and the national championship title in Slovakia. However, Sagan was infected with the corona virus in May – for the third time since the beginning of the pandemic.
“The potential is still there”
The great times seem to be over – the rock star is aging. On the cobblestone stage on Wednesday – actually his terrain – Sagan lost touch early on. He crossed the finish line in Arenberg in 147th place, more than eleven minutes behind stage winner Simon Clarke.
Sagan is still good for a big win, believes Ralph Denk, manager of the German World Tour team Bora-hansgrohe. “I firmly believe that the potential is still there, you don’t lose such a class from one year to the next”he says.
Denk worked with Sagan until the end of last season before he and his entourage to Total Energies Let go because Bora-hansgrohe now wants to focus primarily on the overall ranking in the big tours. But probably also because Sagan’s best time is over.
Sagan advanced Bora-hansgrohe
The Slovak drove for Denk’s team for five years and was partly responsible for the team establishing itself among the best in the world. Bora-hansgrohe was just in the world tour leveled up when Sagan joined. “He challenged us”remembers Denk. “He’s a guy who wants to get things moving. I’ve been able to do a lot with him.” And Sagan was the best promotional vehicle the team’s sponsors could ask for.
In his first Tour de France for Bora-hansgrohe in 2017, Sagan won Stage 3 in Longwy, where the 5th stage of this year’s edition ends on Thursday. It was a special day for Bora-hansgrohe, for the first time the team was able to celebrate a stage win in the most important cycling race in the world.
Denk says in the Australian’s overall Giro victory Jay Hindley in May the emotions were greater than back then: “We paid a lot of money for Sagan, that’s no secret. And he had to deliver. In this respect, the feeling was more like: hooked.” A year later, Sagan delivered the team’s first victory at a cycling monument when he clinched the one-day classic Paris-Roubaix won.
Bully image since Vittel 2017
But Sagan didn’t just bring happiness to Bora-hansgrohe: one day after the 2017 Tour stage victory in Longwy he got in in the sprint Vittel With Mark Cavendish to each other. The Brit was unable to continue the tour because of his injuries after falling into the barriers. Sagan was identified as the cause of the accident and excluded from the tour by the jury. Unjustly, as an investigation by the world cycling association UCI revealed months later.
Nevertheless, since that day at the latest, Sagan has had the image of a lout. Also this year the Slovak has already clashed with his rivals in the sprint. On the second stage he tried to get past the eventual winner Fabio Jakobsen in the last 500 meters with a lot of elbow and physical effort – in vain. “Like open pants” Sagan behaved there, judged sports show expert Fabian Wegmann when looking at the pictures.
Fight against the loss of meaning
A day later, Sagan again found himself hampered in the sprint by Wout van Aert and insulted the Belgian at the finish with an outstretched index finger. “It’s good that Sagan isn’t happy. It means he has the legs and that’s good”said his team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau afterwards. “He has the legs to win.”
Peter Sagan (left) at the sprint finale of stage 3
Ralph Denk remotely has a slightly different explanation for Sagan’s behavior. “He lacks confidence”he thinks. “The victories don’t just come around anymore.” Sagan used to go into the wind early and did the sprint with his strength. “Today he has to surf in the slipstream of the others. And that involves risks.”
And so Sagan fights against the gradual decline of his long-running pro career, which began at the age of 19 and is now in its 13th year. “Then the physical and mental energy also disappears”, Denk believes. Maybe it’s enough for another show of strength at the Tour de France.