On the surface things may as a repeat of the 2013 season for Peter Sagan (Cannondale). Like last year, the five monuments of cycling plus the green points jersey at the Tour de France remain the top priorities for the Slovak champion in the 2014 season. Sagan’s approach to achieve those goals, though, varies compared to last season.

In an interview with Cycling Weekly Sagan explained that he has learned from his past mistakes that saw him finish one pace behind the winners in major one-day races Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders last year. This year, he claims, he paces himself in order to win.

"I've learnt to keep calm," Sagan told Cycling Weekly. "I've got to keep calm for the entire season. For example, everyone already expects something from me in San Luis right away."

Last year Sagan booked 22 wins, edging out Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) by two wins, yet in 2013, Sagan failed to hit the mark in the classics albeit by some slender margins at times: Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) caught him by surprise in Milano-San Remo while Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) left him and everybody else for dead on Paterberg climb in Flanders.

"2013 was long, I only finished with the World Championships," Sagan continued. "I'm slightly behind compared to last year partly because I want to arrive in condition a little later. Maybe in Flanders and on to Amstel last year I was already heading down. This year, though, I want have condition though Flanders and Paris-Roubaix."

According to the interview, Sagan plans to go on a recce tour fpr some of the crucial sections of Flanders and Roubaix when the team is based in Kortrijk in late March. With a keen eye on the Milan-San Remo, Sagan has already visited the new Pompeiana climb which the organisers included on the race parcours between the Cipressa and Poggio climbs.

"It's pretty tough. I'll have to see how the race goes this year but I think it's going to be a good race for the climbers like Vincenzo Nibali. You will have to train to make that effort, from Cipressa to the Poggio, and to the finish, but that training also serves for all of the classics, not only San Remo."

Knowledge, Sagan concluded, will make a difference in the monuments. "Also condition," he added. "And how the race goes. The races can develop in many different ways and you have to be ready for it."