Peter Sagan breaks his duck
Peter Sagan is a serious talent on the bike. That fact has never really been in doubt but it has taken until now, at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships, for the Slovakian to finally win one of the major one-day races on the calendar. When Sagan jumped onto the scene in 2010, he was almost winning for fun.
In the end, his winning was so prolific that he could no longer hide anonymously in a group. Riders would expect him to do the efforts and refused to pitch in, leaving Sagan stuck between a metaphorical rock and a hard place. Do the work, burn your energy and get mugged at the finish or refuse and take your chances against some of the pure sprinters. Never was this more evident than at the last two Tours de France, where he dominated the points classification but failed to take a stage win.
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All of this meant that Sagan couldn’t rely on pure talent alone and had to play a tactical game. Initially, Sagan did the former, dragging riders along who would eventually out kick him, exhausted from the effort, at the finish. This season, however, Sagan’s tactical game has improved – perhaps partly to do with his move to Tinkoff-Saxo.
His attack on Sunday was perfectly timed. Sagan knew that he needed to distance the likes of Alexander Kristoff and John Degenkolb and his best shot at that would be on a descent. The Slovakian got just enough of a gap at the top of the penultimate climb to break free of the pack and use his unparalleled descending skills to great effect.
Having the rainbow jersey on his back will not make life any easier in the pack, but it’s nothing that Sagan isn’t used to already. (SOS)
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