Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) won the power sprint at the finish above Cherbourg and pulled the race leader’s yellow jersey over his world champions’ rainbow jersey, but he denied success comes easy to him and took his moment in the spot light to warn his fellow riders about the huge risks they are taking.
Sagan powered to victory atop the short Cote de la Glacerie climb by coming past Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quickstep). It was his fifth stage victory at the Tour de France and gave him the coveted yellow jersey for he first time in his career.
“It’s never easy to win. Sometimes it seems easy but it never is. This is the first time in yellow in my career after four years as a pro, so I don’t think it’s easy to win,” Sagan explained in the post-stage press conference reserved for the written press after giving a string of simpler sound bites in television interviews.
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“You need luck and also condition. If a lot of things come together, you can do something. If you have bad luck it’s very hard to be at the front. I’m trying my best and making sacrifices to do it. But I also just want to ride my bike. I just want to have fun. That’s why I make my sacrifices.”
Sagan reflected on the often tiny differences between winning and losing and the effect they can have on a rider’s career. He actually thought he had finished third on the stage, convinced that two riders were still away when he charged up the Cote de la Glacerie. He firmly believes in destiny.
“If I’d finished second today I wouldn’t be here now. Life is life. Life brings me things and I just take them. What can I change? I believe everybody has a destiny that is up in space or somewhere. If I’m here, I’m here,” he explained in his unique philosophical style as he grappled to express himself in English.
A call for respect in the peloton
Defending the yellow jersey
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