I had never heard of him before last years Tour of California and I was absolutely smitten after watching him crush a few of the stages. I love the relaxed attitude, cool under pressure - flat on a climb and foot coming out leading up do a sprint, and the fun he has when posing for victory.
One of the most endearing things about him is that he just plain seems to have an awesome time winning bike races. I’m a huge fan of the victory poses and just love the way he rides.
BUT
I have been burned before by my cycling heros. Loved watching Rasmussen destroy climbs, then poof. Contador was just toying with people as he accelerated 2, 3, 5 times on climbs. How can I convince myself that it’s ok to be a Sagan fan without getting burned again? Before I go out and buy a bunch of neon green, please convince me that someone who at times seems too good to be true is just THAT good.
The patience he has, top notch. He waits, then strikes. If you are a loser he drops you, if you are fabian he sucks your wheel and clowns you at the line. If you box him in, he attacks in the dirt to get around. He will pull away from you by sitting on his top tube in a descent while you pedal like an idiot.
and then clearly has some huge 2 minute power to go with all of that.
plus genius quotes like from today’s stage:
Reporter: “How heavy are you?” Sagan: "I don’t weigh myself.
Well technically he wins in sprints, EPO/blood doping not gonna do a thing for you there. I’m a huge fan and won’t doubt him until real evidence proves otherwise. Love his attitude, fun, confident but not a jerk.
Well technically he wins in sprints, EPO/blood doping not gonna do a thing for you there.
Oh yes it will. A huge thing. Beyond just the extra aerobic input to total power which would be small but non trivial, there is the ability to arrive at the front part of the front pack better rested with a full anaerobic tank, and to stay attached on tough climbs.
Plus he wins long uphill sprints not 15 second flat ones.
Give me a break, I knew people would nit pick this crap, in the style he wins, he’s not taking the risk of shooting EPO or blood doping for the small advantage it gives him. It obviously wouldn’t hurt, being ‘fresher’ for the sprint, but the style in which he rides, its not making an appreciable difference to his anaerobic sprint power.
I hope he has a major win, a classic or monument, this year. Last year was a breakthrough, but early season and stage race wins aren’t quite as tough to come by.
Any improvement to your aerobic power, whether it be from riding lots, EPO, or blood doping, will absolutely raise you 15 second, 30 second, 1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minute power as well, especially in a bike race where you are less depleted at the end due to the aerobic improvement.
I’ve seen it first hand, aside from the rather obvious theoretical reasons.
Give me a break, I knew people would nit pick this crap, in the style he wins, he’s not taking the risk of shooting EPO or blood doping for the small advantage it gives him. It obviously wouldn’t hurt, being ‘fresher’ for the sprint, but the style in which he rides, its not making an appreciable difference to his anaerobic sprint power.
Your just dead wrong, look at doping positives for sprinters (running). Kelly White was banned , in part, for taking EPO. Her event lasted all of 10 seconds,a road sprinters lasts 5 hours.
Same thing with golfers, tennis plays, baseball pitchers, etc. Everyone used to say they would not dope because it wouldn’t benefit them, and now we know they all dope, and one of the common PEDs for all of them is EPO.
Keep in mind this has zero to do with wether I think Sagan dopes. I hope he doesn’t, and have no rason to be suspicious, but it not helping him is flat out wrong.
To the OP, Sagan purportedly won’t get injection of any kind and is scared of needles. Can’t remember where i read it.
He also shared his SRM file in the past, which few top riders jave done.
This guy could bbecome the next Sean Kelly, who’s the last complete classics rider as he tackled cobbles, short hills, and long hills. Granted, Kelly won a Vuelta and i don’t think Sagan would be a GT GC contender, but he has a shot at winning all six of the major classics.
The way he won yesterday’s stage was pretty impressive. Tjere’s also that mountain stage from 2011 Tour de Suisse in which he got dropped on a cat-1 climb and chased down the lone leader on the deacent
I’d like to see him do it, but all six major classics? Sure he is young and doing great, but he hasn’t won a clasiic yet, let alone a monument and LBL is going to be a problem for him, unless his climbing improves.
The bloke is an absolute legend. Anyone who can pop no-handed wheelies in a pro stage is worthy of a man crush.
Plus, he descends like an absolute lunatic.
I’m very much looking forward to the classics & GTs this season.
Aside from the other points a road sprint is pretty much a 5 minute max effort with a 10 second kick at the end. Look at the OG road race, Cav was picked by many, but he just couldn’t get to the sprint.
Plenty of people choke down supplements hoping for an improvement, that doesn’t mean there is any efficacy behind it. EPO could possibly give you the ability to train harder, thereby leading to better times, but from a physiological standpoint, you’ll have to pull up a study that says that more blood preempts the CP system and anaerobic glycolysis to produce energy. The only way I can see it possibly helping is with a small ‘buffering’ capacity at late stage anaerobic glycolytic efforts. I personally have never seen the study that shows a scientifically significant difference, therefore my stated position, if you know of this study, since you think there is a positive effect, show me it and I’ll change my mind.
Well technically he wins in sprints, EPO/blood doping not gonna do a thing for you there. I’m a huge fan and won’t doubt him until real evidence proves otherwise. Love his attitude, fun, confident but not a jerk.
All of you saying EPO doesn’t help sprinters obviously have never raced a bike. The run in to a sprint finish is insane, and having the extra aerobic power would absolutely be a benefit when you’re trying to hold the wheel of a guy pushing massive watts in a leadout train.
Anyway, back to the actual topic: I have a feeling Sagan, in the coming years, is going to be like watching Federer dominate tennis in the mid-2000’s. It’d almost be boring if what he was doing wasn’t so mind-boggling and skillful.
