Peter Sagan: I’m not same rider I was three years ago

Peter Sagan could only follow the wheels in Tour of Flanders and he was not among the day’s main protagonists

At the finish he conceded that he is way below the level he was three years ago.

“I don’t think so,” Sagan said when asked if he was the same rider as 2016. “The race style was a lot of difference from past years. For sure, I am not like I was three years ago.”

“It was a very hard race. I think Bettiol took all the chances, and he surprised everybody how strong he is,” Sagan said. “Van der Poel and Greg van Avermaet were also very strong today, but in the end, nobody made a big difference.”

“There was not a lot of cooperation,” Sagan said. “There was a little bit of headwind, and everybody just stayed on the wheel. There were a lot of riders, and when somebody attacked, there was someone always to close the gaps.”

“It was a strange race,” said Daniel Oss. “After the Muur, there was a small group and we tried to cover a lot of attacks, and maybe to anticipate the group. The speed was so high and the power was so hard. Everyone was tired and on the limit. I saw a lot of tired faces.”

Sagan now looks ahead to Paris-Roubaix, next Sunday, which he won last year.  He won the race last year with a long solo attack, joining early escapee Silvan Dillier (Ag2r) and winning the eventual two-man sprint.

Then the Amstel Gold Race a week later and Liège-Bastogne-Liège the following week on April 28.

My campaign here in Belgium…I am very confident I can get better. I have lost a lot since I got sick in Sierra Nevada but I think it is coming, we will see.” Sagan said. “I think it is coming, but we will see. If nothing bad happens, we are looking forward.”