Mathieu van der Poel, Wute van Aert, Tadig Pojaccar and Remko Evenpoel. These are the names you hear when you talk about the candidates for the world championships in Australia next Sunday. A name that doesn’t go anywhere: Peter Sagan. In recent years, the Slovakian no longer drives at the same level as last year. Can he surprise everyone and everything on Sunday and become the world champion for the fourth time? Sagan himself already believes in him.
Sagan begins the interview with his somewhat ambiguous style: “Maybe I’ll take the world title on Sunday and finish my career on the road right away.” cycling news. If you participate, I will at least do my best. Why didn’t I win? You’ve already won the world championship three times, so why not the fourth?
Why could Sagan become the world champion on Sunday, is rather the question. Perhaps based on his past. With those three world titles in his pocket, the Team TotalEnergies rider already has a lot of experience with how to handle a world championship. But based on last season, winning a fourth world title seems very ambitious to us. Sagan has only managed to win twice in 2022 (the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland and the Slovak Championship), and his withdrawals at GP Québec and GP Montréal in recent weeks do not immediately make the best impression.
Sagan: Cycling has changed. Nowadays you cannot win if you are not at your best.”
“It certainly wasn’t my best season, but it wasn’t my worst season either,” Sagan puts his underperformance into perspective. “So I wouldn’t dare say I have to save my season on Sunday. That’s not how I look at my seasons or my career. In the past two years, due to COVID-19, I’ve had to prep for the season three times at a time. I got sick, got fit and got fit. Then I got sick again and got back in shape.I’m very resilient, but it’s been a tough year.
Getting the aura three times as much as Sagan, of course does something to a human. The Slovakian asserts that in the current peloton, you will no longer win a race at nearly 80 percent of your ability. “Cycling has changed, that’s for sure. The way we race has changed, the riders have changed as well as the way we train. Nowadays you can’t win if you’re not at your best. Nobody can. Not me, not Evenpool, not Van Aert, La Bogar or Van der Poel.
“I think I come back every time and I always win,” Sagan said of his health issues. This year I won a stage in the Tour de Suisse and was on a date at the Tour de France. One of those honor places would have been an easy win on the stage, which would have changed people’s opinions.” Despite pulling out twice in Canada, Sagan was satisfied with the feel on the bike. “I think my training and buildup was going really well. Over the past few weeks, but it’s the results that confirm whether or not you’re in good shape. Now is the time to reap the fruits of all my labor.
So reaping the benefits is to lead a good race in the World Cup, preferably to win. What does Sagan expect from Sunday? “I have to really study the track to see how the race might go and who the riders will be watching. The trail seems to have quite a few altimeters, but there is a long stretch to the south, and then you trace circuits through town. It could be an easy match, but it might It’s tough too. It suits many riders. It can go in a lot of directions. If you’re there on the last lap when the race is decided anything can happen.”
