Peter Sagan has found good legs. If there is one thing to remember from the Danish weekend in the TotalEnergies clan, it is this. The Slovak, seen again at the party on the Tour de Suisse, at the best time as the Tour approaches, has glimpsed victory on the third stage this Sunday. Only glimpsed since then he was able to see above all that Wout Van Aert, finally beaten by Dylan Groenewegen, had closed the door to him. It is undoubtedly this movement to the right of the Belgian which earned him this accusing little finger from the Slovak. No Sagan did not win and yes Van Aert annoyed him. But how much? And should this one have been downgraded?
Invited to review the images in the Kings of the Pedal, Jacky Durand gave his feelings. “When Wout Van Aert starts his sprint, he is in the middle of the roadnotes our consultant. I remind you that you are not allowed to change lanes in the last 200 meters. It gradually folds to the right.” Where exactly is Peter Sagan who chose this side when the yellow jersey came out of the box without taking the wheel of his pitcher Christophe Laporte.
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Jacky Durand: “If we refer to the strict regulations, Van Aert is downgraded”
In the last 100 meters, the two men are touching, undeniably. We won’t go so far as to say that the tragedy was narrowly avoided, but according to Jacky Durand, this little miracle is only due to Peter Sagan’s technique on the bike. “Sagan is an artist. Many runners in his place would have fallenhe says. 10 years ago, I would have said that there was no problem, that it was the game. Now, we want to make clearer decisions. If we refer to the strict regulations, Van Aert is downgraded.”
Jacky Durand could not know it yet but the Belgian was not going to be. In a similar situation between the two men two years ago in Poitiers, Sagan had forced the door by dint of headbutts. Which had earned him… a downgrade. Has the Slovak calmed down? On the bike, maybe, off too. We have known him to be more virulent but this Sunday, the TotalEnergies sprinter was not in the mood for controversy. “Everything was perfect, I was in a good position. Everything was fine. He just missed somethinghe first explained at the foot of his bus.
“We don’t like whims”: why Sagan was downgraded
Relaunched on this “something” and on the fact that it was perhaps the action of Van Aert, Sagan neither kicked in touch, nor added to it. “I can’t judge what happened in the finale, there is a jury. They will watch this. I’m especially happy to still be here in one piece (smile). Just watch TV and you’ll make up your own mind.” Same story on the side of his boss, Jean-René Bernaudeau.
Sagan: “There is a jury to judge, but I am above all happy to be in one piece”
Sagan has found the right legs, and that’s the main thing for Total
“It’s like that, it’s the sprinters, it’s violent, very, very manlylaunched the boss of TotalEnergies. It’s a little locked up, I think Van Aert made a small mistake by tightening it up nicely. There were bonuses at stake and Van Aert thought about his yellow jersey. When you are champions like them, there is a lot of virility that happens to be at the limit of regularity” For his part, the yellow jersey assured not to have seen that Sagan was complaining: “I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong. He tried to tell me something after the sprint, but I couldn’t understand because of the noise.”
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“At the limit“, here are the elements of language on the side of the French team. At Total, what we remember is the very good performance of a rider recruited at the start of the season to bring the team higher than she wasn’t.”When Sagan is like that, it’s goodsmiles Bernaudeau. The legs are there. The good news is that we find good Sagan, real good Sagan. He had the legs to win, that’s what annoys him.” And perhaps this will give him extra motivation in the coming days.
Bernaudeau on the Sagan-Van Aert duel: “A lot of virility, at the limit of regularity”
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