Peter Sagan will always be talked about wherever he rides. But at Paris-Roubaix, he will be the most under the radar that he will ever be. Sagan was relatively quiet in terms of media duties today at the presentation in Compiegne as all the media were trying to get a word with both Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. 

Sagan’s expectations were also lowered due to his relatively poor performance in the Tour of Flanders last week. He has competed twice before in the Hell of the North, finishing well down in 2011 and not even finishing in 2010.

"It's my third time coming here. The first time I didn't finish and the second time I was just happy that I got to the finish. Now I'm here to take another experience and we'll see how it goes," Sagan told reporters in Compiègne.

He will of course aim to stay with the nig favourites but he was careful not to announce any specific goals he may have for the race. He is the sixth favourite with the bookmakers and accepts that he will be a marked man.

"I don't think the group will let me go in the breakaway so I just want to ride in the group and after I will see during the race," Sagan said. "After the Forest of Arenberg I will see how it's going.

"This race is very interesting for me and I want to do it well. It didn't go well when I did it before, but I was young. And like I always say, I'm still only 24 years old and I've got years ahead of me."

Sagan has also had time to reflect on what happened during the Tour of Flanders finale, where he looked so strong yet couldn’t hold on to Cancellara and Sep Vanmarcke.

“Every year I get a bit more experience and this year I saw that when Cancellara and the others went away, everybody was marking me," he said. "But I wasn't able to make the difference with the others, and in the end, I finished where I finished. It was still an experience."

Sagan is approaching a well-earned break where he will do Roubaix, miss Amstel (a race he would arguably be a main favourite for) and rest up before the Tour of California, one of his many stomping gounds on the calendar. 

But Sagan is not yet thinking about the break and will race hard in Roubaix.

“The result is not all in the sport," he said. "Ok, one race was not very good, but I'm still riding on the bike. What do you think I'm here for? A holiday?"