Sagan arrives in Australia early to train for the Santos Tour Down Under

Sagan says with a new team it's important for him to get the 2017 season off to a good start and there's no better place to do that than in Adelaide 

Manyriders have already announced their arrival down under including Esteban Chaves, Simon Gerrans, Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis, among others,. But Peter Sagan is indeed the one that attracts the most coverage.

Mike Turtur, the director of the organization of the Tour Down Under came out and said "It's great for the race and great for Australian cycling to have Peter here, with the rainbow jersey. Every global organization is honored to have the rainbow jersey sky on his test"

Sagan will headline his new team Bora-Hansgrohe at the SA race, where he made his only previous appearance in his ProTour debut in 2010. Since then the 26-year-old Slovakian has won two world road championships, seven stages at the Tour de France, five Green jerseys as the French tour's best sprinter and some of the sport's top one-day classics, like the 2016 Tour of Flanders.

"We did our first team camp in December and it was very good. The team have brought in a lot of good people."

"I just want to do my best for the team and we will see what we can do."

Sagan will spend almost three weeks training in Adelaide before the Tour Down Under begins on January 15th, using his early arrival to build fitness for the year ahead.

“I’m very glad to come back to Adelaide and it is a great start to the season,” Sagan said. “The weather is very bad in Europe and I can relax and train here, and there is no pressure for what I am going to do today because it is raining or snowing.

“It will be a high level of racing because it is a WorldTour event and I just want to do my best with the team.”

In his previous appearance at the Tour Down Under Sagan had mixed fortunes and a fall on the second stage led to him having stitches in an arm and a leg. 

But in the race to the top of Willunga Hill during stage five he joined an attack with Cadel Evans and Spanish great Alejandro Valverde and finished fifth.

Sagan said his performances in 2010 made him realise that he was capable of matching it with the world's best.