Sagan had no doubts about Tour de Suisse stage victory

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Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) admitted that as soon as he found a gap in the finishing straight on stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse, he had no doubts about taking victory. The 21-year-old overpowered Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) and Ben Swift (Sky) in Schaffhausen on Saturday to take his second win of the race.

“I benefited from the great work of my teammates and especially from Daniel Oss in the final kilometres,” Sagan said, according to Le Matin. “After that, I focused on finding a gap. From that moment on, I didn’t have any more doubts about my victory. I’m really happy with this win.”

The soft-spoken Sagan explained that he was confident of winning once he had made his way over the final climb in the leading group, in spite of the other fast men present. World champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) and Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step) had succeeded in making the split, along with Goss and Swift.

“At Huttwil, Hushovd beat me, but only a real specialist can beat me on a stage like this,” Sagan told L’Équipe.

In spite of his stunning recent form, testified to by his stage victories at the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse, it appears that Sagan will not be on the start line at the Tour de France. With Liquigas-Cannondale’s Tour line-up set to be devoted to Ivan Basso’s tilt at the podium, Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the 21-year-old Slovakian is pencilled in to make his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España in August.

“A team built around Ivan Basso will go to the Tour,” Sagan explained.