Stephen Roche believes Peter Sagan shouldn’t be written off just yet, despite the young Slovak’s winless start to the 2015 season, but also doesn’t expect him to win many bunch sprints this year.

Writing in his skysports.com blog, the Irishman says Sagan can’t match the likes of Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel or Alexander Kristoff – who won three stages at the Tour of Qatar – in terms of pure speed.

But the 1987 world champion also cites Sagan’s lack of lead-out as an issue for the three-time Tour de France green jersey winner, with his team being more focused on GC success.

He wrote: “In the sprints he is fighting a losing battle because he has not got the fast finish to match the likes of Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel or Kristoff, and equally, he hasn’t had the team to give him any sort of lead-out.

“He didn’t have that at Cannondale and given that Tinkoff-Saxo are so focused on general classification, you would think he won’t have much of one there either. Not one to match Etixx – Quick-Step or Giant-Alpecin anyway.

Seven wins in 2014 equated to a somewhat disappointing season for Sagan, who was coming off of a 21-win season the year before.

And while Sagan’s rivals are making it hard for him to win races, Roche insists the Slovak is yet to realize the true extent of his potential.

“One thing I am not doing is writing him off. Yes, he has plateaued in the past year. Yes, rival teams and riders have made life difficult for him and he is still looking for a way around that. But we should not forget that he is still only 25 years old and is far from past his best.

“I expect him to start winning regularly and once again fulfill the immense, almost incomparable potential he showed as a 20-year-old.”