World champion plays down chances of sixth green jersey and multiple stage wins
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Peter Sagan gets ready for a training ride ahead of the Tour de France(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Sagan at a pre-Tour de France press conference on Friday(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Sagan always attracts the press(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Sagan always attracts the press(Image credit: Getty Images)
"We'll see" is the world champion's mantra(Image credit: Getty Images)
Sagan will use disc breaks in all the stages except the cobbles on stage 9(Image credit: Getty Images)
peter Sagan poses with his custom Specialized bike(Image credit: Getty Images)
When Peter Sagan faced the media on Friday, the Bora-Hansgrohe leader hid behind several of his now trademark "We'll see" responses and suggested his first goal at the Tour de France is to win a single stage, even if he is a favourite to win sprints, hilly finishes, the cobbled stage to Roubaix and perhaps a sixth green points jersey.
Sagan seems to prefer a visit to the dentist to making pre-race predictions, possibly due to his simple philosophy for life.
"I live in the moment; maybe that's my problem, but I enjoy it," Sagan said before presenting the new Sagan collection of bikes by Specialized after team sponsor Hansgrohe confirmed it will stick with the German WorldTour team alongside Bora until the end of 2021.
Sagan also confirmed he would use a disc brake equipped bike on every stage of the Tour de France except the stage to Roubaix.
Sagan was disqualified from the 2017 Tour de France after clashing with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) in the stage 5 sprint in Vittel. While he was eventually cleared of any wrong doing by the UCI during the winter, he is not keen to look back to the polemics but insists he will not change his sprinting style this season.
"The story of last year is already passed. We talked about it a lot," Sagan said, hoping to stay in the moment rather than look back 12 months.
"I know what happened last year, and if the same happens this year, I'll do the same sprint because I don't think it was my fault," he said. "I don't think about how careful I have to be in the sprint. I know I have to be in the front, but you never what's going to happen."
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And his relationship with Cavendish after the crash?
"I think my relationships with Mark is very good, from my side," Sagan claimed. "I've spoken to him a little in California. Everything is OK."
Sagan was equally circumspect about Chris Froome's salbutamol case.
"Oh, well. I don't want to be in his skin, but I don't have anything to say on that. It's not my business," he said when asked.
Sagan prefers to live in the present. Saturday's opening stage and the first half of the race until Roubaix is rich with chances for Sagan to win and score points toward the green jersey. But he avoided any proclamations or overthinking about the next nine days.
"Sometimes it's better not think too much. I like to live day by day. You can never predict what can happen here at the Tour de France, so it's better to focus on performing as best you can for me and as a team. We'll see what happens.
"Our goal is always to keep ourselves safe, out of trouble, out of crash, then if I can pick up some stages then great. Two would be better than one. The green jersey is also a goal, but everything depends on the legs and how the race goes.
"The Green jersey? Well see after two weeks."
Sagan won Paris-Roubaix in the spring and so is the natural favourite for the stages packed with the same sections of the Hell of the North, but explains that the stage will be very different to Paris-Roubaix.
"It's going to be totally different to Paris-Roubaix because we'll race against different riders and we'll be racing with GC riders," he said. "We'll see what happens in the race. It could go well but we'll see."
Sagan is more than just a sprinter but will no doubt fight for victory in the bunch sprints, starting with Saturday's opening stage that will also award the first yellow jersey. Sagan is now 28 and no longer considers himself part of the next generation of sprinters coming through that includes Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) and Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo).
"That's life. The young guys are coming and they have a nice future. We have to just accept that we're not going stay here all our lives, even me," Sagan concluded.
Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
