Even though a hilly course in Ponferrada suits him down to the ground, Peter Sagan is certainly not considered the biggest favorite to strip Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) off of his rainbow jersey in World Championships road race this time around. With only seven victories throughout the whole season, the 24-year old Slovak experienced the least successful year since he has turned professional in 2010, but his trainer insists that Cannondale leader is ready and entering the event with reduced pressure is the best thing that could possibly happen to him.

“He’s pretty relaxed after using the Vuelta as preparation for the worlds,” Sebastian Weber told VeloNews. “It’s good for him that he didn’t have a spectacular result because that would’ve increased the pressure on him and got more people talking about him as a favorite.”

Indeed, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) is who people are talking about following his impressive victories in both Canadian one-day races last weekend, but unlike Sagan, the 34-year old Australian has proved on many occasions that he handles a pressure of being a favorite very well.

Despite winning third consecutive green jersey in this year’s Tour de France, Sagan experienced numerous near misses and eventually didn’t manage to claim any stage victory afterwards. The 24-year old Slovak appeared at the Vuelta a Espana afterwards as his main build-up event towards World Championships, but his form was difficult to judge as he hasn’t contested bunch sprints.

“In the Vuelta, he was happy to not be the sprint captain of the team. It was the team’s decision not to work for him in the sprints in the first week. That’s not because he was out of shape, but because he wanted to give something back to riders like Guillaume Boivin or Oscar Gatto, to help them get a contract for 2015.”

His trainer insists, however, that despite a victory draught Sagan stays motivated and will be well-prepared for the event.

“I don’t think he lacks an edge without winning lately,” Weber continued. “If he wins, it’s not going to get any easier for him because who will want to ride with him to the finish line in the worlds? Then, if you are not fast enough to out-sprint the pure sprinters on the flat stages like in the Tour, what chance do you have?

“Peter is really focused on the world championship, he would really like to win the rainbow jersey,” Weber added.

“It was a big work to get him in the Vuelta team because had the team continued, it could’ve really used points and it would’ve been better for him to go to the Canadian races and get those points. He wanted to go to the Vuelta with an eye on the worlds. He’s serious.”