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Separate move from Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock & Co. – Peter Sagan did it first.
Sagan on Thursday announced the impending end of her WorldTour career, a 14-year rollercoaster ride that paved the way for cycling’s modern era.
Today’s multidimensional stars, whose spread is far away palmares And a pack of private sponsors? They follow Sagan’s decade and a half behind the wheel.
Sagan said, “Today on my birthday, I have decided to give you my thoughts, my schedule, not the news.”
“The time has come to tell everyone because everyone deserves to know. This is my last year on road bikes as a pro. Next year I will definitely be with TotalEnergies and I would like to focus more on qualifying for Olympic mountain bike.
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With a wardrobe full of green and rainbow jerseys, two cobbler commemorative trophies, and a storeroom full of sponsor swag, Sagan already did what riders like van Aert, Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel now dream of doing .
Hailing from the then-unknown cycling nation of Slovakia, Sagan stormed out the door to the West European and South American-dominated WorldTour from the start of his rookie year.
A few years later, at just 25, he took his first world title, four Tour de France green jerseys, and stage victories at the Tours of California and Switzerland. It’s arguably more than van Aert, a rider who follows hot in his wheel tracks, has achieved now at age 28.
And those accomplishments precede the rest of a vast, multi-angle palmares Which will probably be unmatched for quite some time.
📊🎂 33rd birthday of 👑🇸🇰 Peter the Great.
➡️🏆Some Stats-Highlights:
🥇3 Consecutive 🌈WC RR’15-17 (Record)
🔂13 Consecutive Seasons 🌍UWT-Level Wins (2010–22)
10th consecutive season Memorial Top-10 (2012–21)
🟢7 Green-Jersey (record), 12 🇫🇷TdF-Stage🥇121 Pro Wins, 72 🌍UWT-Level
– Cycling Statistics 📊 (@StatsOnCycling) January 26, 2023
But perhaps more important was how Sagan built her trophy cabinet. He showed pro cycling that one mold does not fit all in an era preceded by up-and-coming multi-discipline stars.
In his pomp, Sagan could beat sprinters punctureAnd conquer the most cruel stones.
At that time, he was doing what was not considered possible then. Van Aert, the teenage version of van der Poel and others Of course he was taking notes.
A cycling rockstar, a sponsor’s dream
When Sagan hangs up his road wheels next winter, he won’t be completely done.
The comeback in his quest to return to the top of the Olympic MTB podium in a race that will pit him against defending champion and multi-format heir Pidcock sees Sagan end his career in the same fun-focused fashion he followed since 2009.
“It’s not about medals or anything. It’s more about what I want to do,” Sagan said.
“There’s no pressure anymore about whether I win or lose. It’s something I’ve always wanted, to finish my career on mountain bikes and next year is the Olympic year. But I wanted to do it for myself.” Not for anyone else.
Yet while Sagan was one of cycling’s rockstars of the last decade with his wild finish line celebrations, wacky media appearances and sometimes controversial antics, he was also a sponsor’s dream.
They built a multi-million dollar, multi-year relationship with the bike and apparel giant distinctive, sporty and 100% sunglasses.
Advertising appearances, savvy social media, and their carefully curated catalog of offerings in gravel and e-biking brought the brands to life and gave them some unique Sagan swagger.
He wasn’t the first to amass a rich portfolio of personal partners, but the way he did it broke new ground at a time when the TikTok generation was still in kindergarten.
It should come as no surprise that the distinctive, sporty, and 100% plans to have a piece of Sagan once he’s done in Paris.
Sagan’s final WorldTour season will see him return to all of his “greatest hits”, an event that includes Paris–Roubaix, a race he won in bombshell fashion in 2018, and the Tour de France, where he won 12 stages. won and set a record seven green jerseys.
That riders like van Aert and van der Poel will overshadow a twilight-era Sagan in his swansong season is sad perhaps, but feels like the toughest passing of the torch.
However, don’t write him off for one last big win, as Sagan ripped and rewrote the script throughout his 14-year pro career.
“I want to finish all the WorldTour races on a high this year. I’m not going to just enjoy the year,” he said. “I want to be at my top level.”
