Exclusive interviews with Peter Sagan, Michael Mathews and Marianne Vos in latest Procycling

Road cycling is in love with Peter Sagan – but he’s not sure he’s quite so into it himself, he tells Procycling in an exclusive interview. The Slovakian has dabbled with mountain biking this summer and admits he loved the thrill it gave him. It felt like a holiday he said. Should we be worried? Nervous, even, that he’s going to fall out of love completely with road racing? Procycling explored just how far this dalliance could go when the team met up with him at the Bretagne Classic.

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The team also caught up with another first class example of the sprinter-climbers, Michael Matthews, who is blessed with talent but cursed to be racing against Sagan. The man they call ‘Bling’ is well-natured and biddable – entirely at odds with his nickname. He’s not showy, he just happens to like nice things, he tells us. The team was struck by the gap between his character off the bike and the power and strength of his racing self. The Australian is changing teams in 2017 and Procycling goes in search of both the man and the reasons for the switch. One thing is certain: Orica’s loss is Giant’s gain.

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André Greipel has almost 140 victories to his name and Procycling spoke to him about just 10 – the 10 biggest and most meaningful in a stellar career that now spans 12 years. The German sprinter reveals the tactical secrets behind his best wins, and explains what they meant to him and his career.

At the other end of the spectrum in many ways – age, specialism and temperament for example – is Tao Geoghagan Hart. The Hackney lad has a canny eye for detail and a great turn of phrase, so we set him the task of chronicling the rough and tumble of the 13th modern Tour of Britain. Read his exclusive diary and find out why the British race is so popular with the pros despite its unremitting savagery.

Marianne Vos, if she were to call time on her career would still have an incomparable palmarès. The 29-year-old’s fans should have no fear: she’s determined to rediscover the form that made her the world number one year after year. Nevertheless, Procycling sat her down with her young teammate, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, 22, who many believe has the talent to build a palmares approaching Vos, to find out what lessons are passing down the line.

Elsewhere in the magazine, photographer Oran Kelly gets under the skin of the GPs Cyclistes de Québec and Montréal, the team dissects all the best racing action in the Debrief section and takes the new Canyon Ultimate CF SLX for a spin. It’s fast. Find out how fast after we took it for a spin in Spain.

Plus there are all the regulars. Diarists Dan Martin, Hannah Barnes, Matt White, Joe Dombrowski and Matteo Tosatto tell more tails from the peloton, Jens Voigt gives his monthly take on the racing action, and in Wishlist the team highlight all the best new racing gear.