With a 2nd place in today's Tour of Flanders, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) has been runner-up in both of the first two monuments of the season. While he left Milan-Sanremo disappointed, he was, however, satisfied with today's performance and admired the superior strength of race winner Fabian Cancellara.

Peter Sagan fought valiantly to stay in the wheel on Fabian Cancellara when the powerful Swiss accelerated on the final passages of the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg in today's Tour of Flanders. While he managed to keep up with his rival on the former climb, he had to let him go just a few meters from the top of the latter.

Despite the near-miss, the Slovakian talent was not disappointed and admitted that the strongest man on the day came out on top. Instead, he was encouraged by the prospects of a great future in one of cycling's biggest races.

“Today’s second place is a great result,” he said. “I didn’t suffer any problems and I was able to do my best to stay in the front of the race. Cancellara was simply the strongest today. I couldn’t do more than this. I have understood I can win the ‘Ronde’. I’m 23 years old, with many years in front of me to take it”.

The Slovakian was involved in a crash earlier in the race. Luckily, he escaped the tumble unscathed, and he downplayed the significance of the incident.

“The race was hard for the entire day," he explained." At 140 km to go I had a crash. I was eating, suddenly riders in front of me touched their brakes and I lost control of the handlebar. Nothing particular, just a loss of time. In the final part of the race I controlled Cancellara, then when he attacked I thought about maintaining the advantage with Roelandts ahead of the bunch. Honestly, I didn’t know if I had enough power for a good sprint."

Prior to this year's Milan-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders, much was made of a potential rivalry between Sagan and Cancellara. The Swiss had not been impressed by the Slovakian's tactics in last year's Tour de France when he sat on Cancellara's wheel only to outsprint him at the end of the hilly first stage. The Radioshack captain had criticized his main rival, but Sagan used the opportunity to downplay their mutual disagreements after today's race.

"The rivalry between me and Fabian? It’s only about sport. The media maybe make it bigger than it really is. Outside the races there are no problems between us, but when we have to challenge for a win I think it’s normal be competitors. It’s only a show for cycling.”

Today's second place is just the most recent in Sagan's impressive string of podium places in the most important one-day races. With 2nd places in Strade Bianche, Milan-Sanremo, E3 and the Tour of Flanders and his first semi-classics win in the Gent-Wevelgen, the Slovakian has been in the top-2 in all the major one-day races of the season.

However, this impressive consistency will come to an end next Sunday when Sagan will be absent on the start line of the Paris-Roubaix. Instead, he will concentrate on the first of the Ardennes classics, the Amstel Gold Race, where he hopes to improve on last year's 3rd place.

His strong condition has even made him consider an extension of his spring season, and he may now take the start in the Fleche Wallonne just three days after his Amstel outing.

“I’m satisfied with these results,” he said. “Only the sprint at the end of Sanremo disappointed me, but for the rest I gave my all and achieved my maximum. Now I’ll face the Amstel Gold Race and I am also thinking about the Fleche Wallonne. If my condition is good, I could race it. I’ll decide with the team after the next race.”

With today's 2nd place, Sagan remains leader of the UCI World Tour ranking. However, his position will come under threat if Fabian Cancellara lives up to the expectations and triumphs in the Hell of the North next Sunday.