Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

nalc t1_j64exiq wrote

Not super surprising, but definitely the end of an area.

If you're not following cycling closely, Sagan was The Guy from 2012-2018 and also managed to singlehandedly form a team around him (Bora Hansgrohe, which was a second-tier team he joined, brought in a bunch of new riders and sponsors, and got promoted to the top tier of pro cycling). By 2020 he was no longer the best rider on his own team, let alone the world, and he has been quietly fading out by signing with a different second-tier team. It's important to be on a top tier team because they get automatic invites to all the big races, whereas the second tier teams only sometimes get invited (and yes, that's a rabbithole of controversy with accusations that race organizers are biased towards second-tier teams, or that second-tier teams will sign declining superstars just to try to get invites)

Hopefully it will be an exciting Olympics and a way for him to go out on top.

163

fluteofski- t1_j64l31k wrote

r/boneappletea, i think you mean “End of an era”

Yeah. At one point it becomes near impossible to continue climbing, and the only way left is down. Even if his power numbers were consistent, other teams and riders would actively work against him in the final sprints. To where it was no longer a contest of strength but rather Sagan vs the rest of the entire field. When you become a marked rider like that, it’s fuckin tough to continue climbing. He also made a fuckton of money along the way, so retiring probably ain’t a bad idea at all.

I used to race at a domestic pro level, and I can simply say that strength is only a small component to winning. The rest is “strategy” or math. Imo cycling has just become too predictable. The only fun part to watch is the last 5 min. I don’t endorse drugs, but I will say that watching Armstrong back in the day was just wild.

As for Sagan, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he comes back outa retirement in 5 years or so. By then a lot of people he races with now will have moved on, and they’ll forget who he was and he could have a Cav style comeback.

44

nalc t1_j64m855 wrote

It was wild watching World Champs back in the mid 2010s just knowing Sagan was going to find a way to do it. I think in 2017 in Norway there were some issues with the camera feeds and it blanked out near the end. Went from "there's a group and it's anyone's race" to "and it's Sagan with the three-peat" like when low budget action movies cut out the violence to save special effects budget and maintain a PG-13 rating.

He did have a knack for being able to get in the right place with the right time and it was fun back in the day watching Quickstep set up a big leadout train for Kittel, only for Sagan to ride it too and pop him at the line.

24

BasvanS t1_j68xbah wrote

Yeah, if you’re talking about strategy, Sagan had both the power and the strategic insight to read the race and not waste too much power along the way.

While he wasn’t my favorite rider, I respected his qualities and he grew on me a bit.

1

Fildok12 t1_j65f5bd wrote

I remember watching during the past couple seasons and it seemed like every race commentators were saying he was just getting over another bout of Covid. Wonder if it had a lasting effect but it’s not unheard of for people to just simply fall off at his age as well.

3