With four stage win at the USA Pro Challenge Peter Sagan showed he can sprint, and in certain situations, can climb. Sure, he’ll never win a polka dot jersey, but he’ll continue to add green jerseys to his collection.
Other that the ability to push the 53/11 at 120 rpms for 200 meters Sagan has mad handling skillz. As mentioned ad nauseam during the Colorado broadcast, the Slovakian is a former mountain biker and cyclocrosser. I saw some amazing footage of him on a 26 incher at a Red Bull event way back in the day. A quick search in Google and I couldn’t find the footage again. Maybe you’ll have better luck and more time to search then I have.
In addition to his finish line wheelies, Sagan can hop, skip, and jump his bike over anything.
Making the rounds not long after his fourth stage victory at the US Pro Challenge is Sagan hopping his bike up a flight of stairs to the podium presentation. Considering how a small miscalculation it would take to send him to the ground, it shows how confident Sagan is with his bunny hopping abilities. Also shows how confident his handlers are. If I was tasked with chaperoning Sagan I’d shit kittens if he started hopping around on his bike. “You let Peter do what while you were watching him?!?!”
Lucky for us the Cannondale team management turns a blind eye to his bike shenanigans and actually posts videos of it to the internet.
There are easier ways to rack a bike, but whatever.
At a post-stage presser, Sagan was asked if he could win the upcoming world championships in Florence, Italy. He replied, “Why not.” The Florence course doesn’t suit a pure sprinter, but Sagan doesn’t fall into that category. He’s shown he can climb and he’s spent a couple of weeks at altitude combined with racing. He’s going to continue his North American campaign and return to Europe for worlds. While I don’t think he’s a “five-star” favorite, I wouldn’t bet against him either.
The world championships occur during Interbike which hosts the unofficial start of the American cyclocross season – CrossVegas. While I know that Sagan is locked into attending the world championships, I thought it was important that at least he know his presence would be appreciated if he was to race ‘cross as well as the USA Crits finale, so I started an official White House petition to get Sagan to race CrossVegas. I doubt my petition will have much influence but it’s my obligation as an American to let my thoughts be known.