During the inaugural Tour of Alberta, in September 2013, I had the opportunity to watch Peter Sagan’s brilliance on a road bike. He won the prologue. He won the first stage. At that point, the post race press conferences were full of journalists asking if he thought he could win all six stages and the GC title. Ultimately, he wouldn’t win again until the final stage, where he beat everyone to the line in Calgary.
His stage win in Calgary was remarkable. As the race entered the city, it included a 3-lap criterium-style finish. Three riders had formed a breakaway, but the peleton slowly reeled them. By the time the final lap finished it was anybody’s race. Coming into the finish, the course featured a nasty 90-degree turn in the shadow of the Calgary Tower before a 200-meter sprint to the finish. Sagan wasn’t in a good position, coming into the corner in a group and behind the race leaders. He took the corner aggressively. Riding at over 50km/h, he didn’t tap the breaks and he didn’t go wide. He simply took the inside and shot into the race lead. He railed it so tight, leaned so far into the turn, that it looked like a mountain bike-style corner.
His entire career is littered with mountain-bike worthy moments, like his infamous wheelie on the Alpe D’Huez during the 2013 Tour de France, so it shouldn’t be so surprising that he can absolutely throw down on fat tires. Check out Cannondale’s latest video, Peter Sagan Goes Mountain Biking.
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