Peter Sagan’s booming laugh has been quiet for a while but as the World Championships near, the Slovakian seems back on form and keen to joke again.
Sagan is now 32, has a contract with TotalEnergies for 2023 and is determined to see it through, but also has a tattoo of the Joker on his back with the words: ‘Why so serious?’
So in an exclusive interview with Cyclingnews, Sagan couldn’t resist teasing about his future in the sport if he wins a record-breaking fourth rainbow jersey. It is perhaps a Sagian lapsus, a premonition or secret desire.
Sagan has been hit by COVID-19 three times in the last two years, twice wrecking his pre-season training and then again in the final days of the Tour de Suisse, close to the start of the Tour de France. He has only won eight races since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and many people have written him off. Yet that would be a mistake, especially at the World Championships.
He is one of only five riders to win the world title three times and despite recent illness at the Canada WorldTour races, he is now back on form and hungry to prove a point.
“Perhaps I’ll win the world title and then quit the road…” Sagan tells Cyclingnews, with a laugh and smile, an indication that he is back to his mischievous best.
“If I’m up there in the race, I want to do my best and so why can’t I win this time too? I’ve won the world title three times, so why not four?” he asks, more seriously.
“Of course it’s a unique race, you ride for your nation and so it can go your way or can be a disaster. I love riding Worlds every year because you never know how it will play out.”
Sagan recovered quickly from his third bout of COVID-19 at the Tour de Suisse in June and then won the Slovakian National Road Race Championships for the eighth time in his career.
He rode the Tour de France, finishing sixth, fourth and fifth in the opening road stages and then fourth in the sprint to Carcassonne and fifth on the Champs-Élysées. He was particularly angry and disappointed when Wout van Aert closed him against the barriers in Sønderborg on stage 3, convinced he could have come along the barriers to win.
His move to TotalEnergies surprised many but he has fitted in well in the French team and both parties have benefitted. Sagan may not have won big but TotalEnergies have racked up 15 victories and are on track to be the best-ranked ProTeam for 2022, giving them automatic invitations to WorldTour races in 2023 whatever…
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