Peter Sagan means business at the Tour of Flanders
Peter Sagan means business at the Tour of Flanders. As if to prove the point, after 15 minutes of listening to his thoughts on the forthcoming Ronde in Roeselare on Saturday, reporters were ushered into the room next door for the launch of a line of bikes bearing the world champion's name.
The line between press conference and timeshare presentation is often blurred in a sport where teams owe their very existence to selling their naming rights to sponsors, but few riders' images have been hawked as extensively as that of Sagan over the past number of years. Seated at a top table bedecked with bottles of the alcohol-free beer he now peddles, Sagan cut a relaxed figure as he fielded questions on his build-up for the Tour of Flanders.
Already the winner of the Ronde in 2016, Sagan lines out as the favourite again this time around in the wake of his victory at Gent-Wevelgem last Sunday, even if his previous travails at E3 Harelbeke – where he was a faller early on – had raised some questions about his condition.
"Sometimes it's better not to think and just do the things. I'm not focusing on what was before but what is today or tomorrow," Sagan said when asked for an update on his form a week on.
Sagan did not line out at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, although he opted to stay in Belgium for the week rather than return to his home in Monaco, and reportedly trained near Nieuwspoort on the North Sea coast as he recovered from his efforts last weekend.
"It was already scheduled that I would do Harelbeke and Ghent-Wevelgem, like the years before, but for sure, the weather was bad and it was cold [at Dwars door Vlaanderen]. There were many risks," Sagan said. "I preferred not to do that race.
No time to chat with Naesen
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