The end of an era: Peter Sagan, the man who added so much color to cycling, is retiring

Granted, this tribute - which is also part of our series on cyclists who have retired - is written by a fan. That's right: just like many others, yours truly had always been a follower of the sport of cycling. However, it was the flamboyant Slovakian who, at the beginning of the previous decade, awakened my love for cycling. Even at the very start of his career, Sagan was already an entertainer, a joker and a top-notch rider, all rolled into one.

Let's start from the beginning: on January 26, 1990, Peter Sagan was born in Zilina, a city in northwestern Slovakia. At the time, his parents had to support the family together and were mainly involved in running their mom-and-pop shop, also located in Zilina. This resulted in young Peter being primarily raised by his older sister, Daniela. As a young boy, Sagan was interested in a wide range of sports. For years, he explored various options, but at the age of 9, he finally made the decision to try cycling. It was a sport that wasn't too popular in Slovakia.

Sagan and bicycles - it quickly proved to be a match made in heaven, with mountain biking becoming his particular passion. As a carefree teenager, he would ride around the outskirts as well as the center of the city, which had a population of 80,000, as seen in various old YouTube videos. During the same period, Sagan also decided to join 'Cyklisticky spolok Zilina', a local cycling club.

One thing led to another, and in no time, Sagan, who was already known as a technically gifted rider, ventured into various cycling races, both on the road bike and the mountain bike (and sometimes on the cyclocross bike). He frequently sped to (solo) victories, but it was mainly the way in which he won that caught everyone's attention. Sometimes he won in tennis shoes, other times in his jogging suit (or a combination of both). Perhaps the most legendary story from that period is the one of the so-called Slovak Cup. Sagan had accidentally sold his own bike and hadn't received a replacement from his sponsor in time. He was forced to compete in the race on a supermarket bike that he borrowed from his sister. But you guessed it: the conspicuous cyclist still won with ease, despite having to contend with poorly functioning brakes and a heavily damaged (and limited) gear mechanism.

Throughout the various youth categories, Sagan continued to make waves. A solo victory here, a distinctive victory gesture there. Sagan, like Michal Kwiatkowski, was regarded as one of the most prominent cycling talents. The highly talented young man was catching the eye of various cycling teams more and more, especially when in 2007, as a junior, he won both the Slovak national championship on the road and in cyclocross. That year, he also raced to a third-place finish in the European Championships on his mountain bike. These were the first signs of the versatility that would later become so characteristic of Sagan.

Perhaps 2008 was the definitive breakthrough year for Sagan, who became the European champion and world champion in mountain biking among juniors. These off-road titles led to numerous offers from road teams. Shortly thereafter, he officially signed with Dukla Trencin-Merida, a Continental team from Slovakia. His two year older brother, Juraj, was also part of that team. He also made his mark on the asphalt that year with some excellent performances, with his second-place finish in the junior Paris-Roubaix being the most notable one.

Good things were starting to happen for Sagan - and fast. In 2009, Sagan seemed to be on his way to Patrick Lefevere's team. However, there was a hitch and the deal fell through, resulting in the Slovakian rider having to spend another year with the U23 team (and thus with Dukla Trencin-Merida). Sagan also competed in a significant number of races with the elite riders, and with success, as he achieved several victories or top finishes in 1.2 or 2.2 races. In late 2009, Sagan was put in touch with WorldTour team Liquigas-Doimo through the bicycle manufacturer Cannondale. The deal was quickly sealed, and on January 1, 2010, the almost 20-year-old Sagan officially became a WorldTour professional.

Sagan didn't hesitate to make his presence known in his first WorldTour races. He achieved his first professional victory in a notable race, as he triumphed in the third stage of Paris-Nice on March 10, 2010. In a slightly uphill sprint, he proved faster than seasoned riders Joaquim Rodriguez and Nicholas Roche. Two days later, he once again claimed victory in stage five, gaining fame and recognition among a growing audience.

What followed was an endless series of victories and top placements. He represented Liquigas (later Cannondale) until the end of 2014, rode for Tinkoff from 2015 to 2016, raced for BORA-hansgrohe from 2017 to 2021, and in his last two seasons (2022 and 2023), joined the ranks of TotalEnergies. Anyone trying to list all of Sagan's top-five finishes on paper will probably run out of ink or pens. In a farewell article like this, we should certainly (and gladly) highlight a number of victories (or important overall wins).

Perhaps what Sagan has shown doesn't require further explanation. Most of his achievements are still etched in the minds of many cycling fans, but it never hurts to highlight some of the most remarkable ones. But what do you choose then? The fact that he became world champion three times in a row (in 2015, 2016 and 2017), the fact that he took home seven green jerseys in 'La Grande Boucle' - or perhaps something entirely different? Such as the fact that he won Gent-Wevelgem three times, was the absolute king of the Tour of California and the Tour of Switzerland with seventeen and nineteen stage victories, respectively, and that he nestled himself in the illustrious group of gentlemen who have won at least one stage in all the Grand Tours.

We all remember the images of Sagan on the Paterberg, during his victorious Tour of Flanders in 2016. The unleashed world champion of Richmond dropped Sep Vanmarcke on the climb and soloed his way to an impressive victory in Oudenaarde. His frequent wheelies - both on flat terrain and uphill - are also memorable. The video of Sagan riding on his rear wheel while reaching into a cookie jar on the slopes of a mountain pass went viral, as did his Grease imitation (together with his ex-wife Katarina Smolkova) and his role in the 'I park my bike on top of a car' commercial.

And we haven't even mentioned his distinctive victory celebrations: imitations of The Terminator (he was sometimes called 'The Tourminator') all the way to Forrest Gump. Or what about the jokes and pranks with his buddy Chris Froome, his sarcastic and deadpan flash interviews and the regularly recurring 'bunny hops'. Indeed, you have to appreciate them, but in a time of highly programmed racing (also known as the often criticized Sky train), it was a welcome breath of fresh air for many cycling fans. The common thread throughout Sagan's career? Juraj Sagan, Daniel Oss, Maciej Bodnar and numerous staff members who, like a true entourage, moved from team to team with the phenomenon.

Sagan often made headlines and was often a phenomenon on social media channels. To be fair - this wasn't always in a positive context. After finishing second in Gent-Wevelgem in 2013, Sagan pinched a podium hostess' buttocks during the winner's presentation, which caused quite the controversy (even outside the cycling world). In 2017, he was disqualified from the Tour de France for causing a crash with Mark Cavendish during a full sprint. And even in the later stages of his career, Sagan was increasingly "accused" of irregular sprint behavior (read: excessive elbowing).

From 2019 onwards, Sagan's results and performances took a steep decline: he only managed to win sporadically, if at all. Three years ago, few people would have believed that he would be swiftly overtaken by a new group of top riders in his prime discipline. Apparently, even for Sagan, the peak of his career came before he turned thirty. Did this have to do with a slightly deflated ambition? It seems so. Like many other stars, Sagan couldn't add to his impressive list of achievements under the influence of a new generation of cyclists, including Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. To say he had been turned into filler for the peloton may sound somewhat disrespectful, but that conclusion seems appropriate for the former phenomenon who had clearly lived like a rockstar (reportedly he frequently liked having a bottle of red wine).

During his farewell year, he didn't manage to win at all. A year without Sagan's playful victory celebrations, how could that be? The protagonist of the past cycling decade didn't seem too bothered by it. "When I was 18, I was happy not to go to school anymore. I didn't want to go back. Now I'm 33, and I don't want to go back to cycling either. I enjoyed it, but I've had enough," he concluded. Fortunately, we won't have to miss Sagan entirely just yet. My great sports hero will now focus on mountain biking, with the Olympics as his main goal. "We'll see," he would say about that. Son Marlon will also be getting a lot of attention from his dad in the coming years. As for his road career, I say: thank you, Peter, for all the beautiful moments you've given us.