When Tinkoff-Saxo announced that they had signed Peter Sagan, one of the obvious questions was whether the Slovakian can co-exist with Alberto Contador on the Tour de France team. Now manager Bjarne Riis tells CyclingQuotes that the Slovakian won’t actively chase the green jersey and mainly focus on stage wins in the world’s biggest race.

In the last few years, Peter Sagan has had a team fully at his disposal in the Tour de France. The efforts have paid off for the talented Slovakian who have won the green jersey in dominant fashion three years in a row.

His loyal Cannondale teammates have played a key role in chasing down breakaways in the hilly stages that suited Sagan and doing lead-outs in the intermediate sprints. The efforts have played a key role in making him untouchable in the points competition in recent years.

Next year things are likely to change. Peter Sagan has signed a contract with Tinkoff-Saxo and will be riding alongside Alberto Contador in La Grande Boucle. That obviously means that the Slovakian will no longer have a complete team at his disposal but it has mostly been the perception that the green jersey will remain a goal for the Slovakian.

However, Sagan may go into next year’s Tour with a completely different focus. In an interview with CyclingQuotes, manager Bjarne Riis reveals that the Slovakian may not actively try to make it four green jerseys in a row.

”Sagan will still focus on the classics, that won’t change,” the Dane told CyclingQuotes at the World Championships in Ponferrada. “He will also do the Tour de France.

Asked whether that means another focus on the green jersey, Riis defied that suggestion.

“That’s not what I am saying,” he said. “He will probably take a few stage wins. I suppose that we have Alberto in the Tour and that will be the first priority. Then we have to see which possibilities he has.”

Mark Cavendish found himself in a similar situation in 2012 when he had realize that Sky were more focused on the overall win with Bradley Wiggins than a second green jersey for the Brit. With limited team support, he still managed to win three stages but he was never in contention for the win in the points competition. In the 90s, Telekom successfully focused on both goals when they won both the yellow and the green jersey in 1996 and 1997.

In a few days, Sagan will be lining up at the World Championships. All year the course has been described as tailor-made for him and he has been regarded as the biggest favourite.

However, a poor showing in the Vuelta a Espana has removed him from the spotlight. Riis admits that his future star is unlikely to be wearing the rainbow jersey in his first year with his new team.

“I doubt that Sagan is at 100%,” he said cautiously when asked to assess Sagan’s chances in Sunday’s road race.

Sagan has made the World Championships the big goal in the second half of his season.