Tom Boonen: Peter Sagan needs to 'keep his mouth shut' over lack of cooperation from rivals

Peter Sagan "has to keep his mouth shut" and stop complaining about the lack of cooperation he gets from the peloton, Tom Boonen has said. The World champion “always tries to benefit from the work of other teams,” but does not return that help, Boonen suggested.

After missing out on success at the Tour of Flanders Sagan questioned the tactics of his rivals who struggled to take on Quick-Step Floors this spring. "There is no cooperation to fight against the Quick-Step block. They work against me and do not want to cooperate, so Quick-Step can do what it wants," Sagan said. 

During the Belgian television show “Extra Time Koers" Boonen suggested that was hypocritical. Since retiring from racing last spring, Boonen has been a expert commentator on Belgian television and tipped Niki Terpstra to win the Tour of Flanders.

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"A lack of cooperation? He is always on someone's wheel," Boonen said of Sagan, unafraid to criticise the world champion.

Boonen added: "I don't think Sagan really should talk about a lack of cooperation. He is the one who always starts to drag. He looks to see what is going on, and then he comes forward once and starts waving his hand. If you do that you have to keep your mouth shut.”

Boonen, who won the Tour of Flanders three times and Paris-Roubaix four times, added: "He always tries to benefit from the work of other teams. There is nothing wrong with that, but then you do not have to say afterwards 'they do not work with me'."

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