In an interview with Cyclngnews, Peter Sagan assured fans that he can succeed in the Classics at Tinkoff-Saxo as his new team has the strongest roster for those races.
"I think we've got the best team for the Classics. We're the strongest team for those races. Why? Because we are. But seriously we have a great group of riders, and we have a top boss in Bjarne [Riis]. We're also super motivated, we have the best technology and the logistics on this team are amazing," Sagan tells Cyclingnews at the team's training base in Gran Canaria.
Sagan is one of the best riders in the peloton and he is extremely versatile, but he has been unable to win a Monument so far and he hopes that his new manager at Tinkoff-Saxo, Bjarne Riis, can deliver him this success, which is why he chose the team over almost every other team in the peloton.
"I wanted to come here and work with Bjarne," Sagan says as if there was no other choice. "This team was the one that really wanted me and that was key. There were other teams but they were only talking and talking. Lots of teams came to talk about an offer. BMC, Astana, Lampre, Alonso, Sky, almost everyone. But Tinkoff they said they really wanted me and that was the convincing factor. Bjarne is a top coach, a top strategist and what he says makes sense and the squad we have is incredible."
Team owner Oleg Tinkov funded the move to try and achieve his dream of Sagan in Green and Contador in Yellow on the Champs Elysses in Paris at the end of the Tour de France. This hasn’t always gone well with previous teams who tried it. In 2012, Sky won the Tour with Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish won three stages, but Sagan also took three stages and had much better placings and he denied Cavendish the Green Jersey, leaving Cavendish to complain about being isolated at Sky.
"Why not? Why can't we do it?" Sagan says, when provoked on the issue. "We tried it with Nibali in 2012 at Liquigas and we were close. Okay, he finished third at the Tour but that wasn't my fault or his. We still have to plan but I think we can do it and another green jersey is the aim for me.”
"I have read about the changes to the green jersey rules but there's not much I can do. I can't change the situation so my best plan is not to talk about it, talking isn't important. I just need to ride and race for the jersey and not think about points and systems."
Many wonder if Sagan can get on with Contador, but the Slovakian sensation says the two were friends even before the move and talk regularly, stating that communication will be the key to the duo’s success.
The 24 year old admitted that while his season wasn’t bad, it was far from the lofty highs of his previous two campaigns, even if he did still win three times in the WorldTour.
"But I gained more experience this year and even when things weren't going well for me, I learnt valuable lessons and made sure that I took some positives steps. Okay, I didn't win a big Classic but even from a bad season I can take some experience and lessons for the future."
"Maybe I started winning too early," he says jokingly. "I mean a lot of riders ask me how old I am and they can't believe that I'm just 24. They look at me like I'm joking and they, along with a lot of people, assume that I've been in the pro ranks for ten years. But I'm okay with that because it's part of sport and I always think that I'm still developing and that my best is still to come. I'm not frustrated with how my season went, for example. Maybe when I'm 33, if I'm looking back and haven't won big victories then I'll be frustrated, but not now."
Without a doubt Sagan wants another Green Jersey in 2015, but it is hard to look past the Monuments as his biggest goals, particularly Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders, but Paris-Roubaix, where Sagan was sixth, may also be a winnable race for the talented rider. He has even podiumed Amstel Gold.
"To win a Monument you need to have the condition at nearly 100 per cent. Then you need the experience, you need the strategy, the luck and if one part is missing you're a long way off winning. Cycling is a beautiful sport and it brings together so many parts and what’'s special is that you have to decide so much in the moment," he says. "It makes things harder, less predictable but I feel like I've got more experience and I'm learning more and more at this new team."
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