The 2012 Tour was the Tour of Peter Sagan. Within three years, the Slovak had gone from unproven MTB talent to the most well-rounded sprinter in the world. Just how did this rookie sensation take over the world of cycling? And why did his celebrations cause controversy? Learn more about his win in Boulogne Sur Mer in this podcast!
Stage 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-zLNL-qd9o
Stage 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-tmr_mvcTk
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Discover cycling history in the cycling iceberg podcast! Each week, Noah uncovers forgotten heroes, epic scandals, and the dramatic moments that shaped the history of cycling!
Welcome back to the Cycling Iceberg podcast. Today’s stage will see the Tour to France finish in Bologna Sumere for the first time since 2012. Back then, the finishing climb was slightly more difficult than what the riders will face today. However, I would say today’s stage is slightly more difficult because of the harder climbs before. So, we could see a slightly different scenario play out than in 2012. Bolognia is located at the English Channel. It’s a fisher town. I visited it about 10 years ago in my first year of high school. We had a trip there with French. It struck me as an industrial city which had declined over the years. The city center around the aquarium looked quite nice, but further in the suburbs where we were staying, it looked like the city had once been blooming, but has lost much of its appeal over time. In that trip, we also visited the area around Bologna. We visited this point where we could look across the channel and see the English cliffs, the white cliffs of Dover. Those are very famous, of course. And if you think of that landscape, it’s pretty much the same on the other side of the channel. The climbs are quite steep and just like that stage to Cal in which Fanard took the stage win in the yellow jersey, the riders will face a number of those steep, short, punchy climbs before the stage comes in. It was on that terrain that you just heard Peter Sagan win his second stage in the 2012 Tour to France. His super quick ascension through the ranks from Neorro, mainly focused on mountain bike, to superstar is what I’ll focus on today. As the tour circus headed to Leia, Belgium for the start of the 2012 tour to France, a 22year-old Slovakian cyclist was the talk of the town. The tour commenced with a prologue pretty straightforward through the streets of Lege and normally Fabian Klah would be heavily favored to take the yellow jersey. The writer of Radio Shack was the dominant force in prologus. He won his first prologue in 2004 and later also won the opening time trials in 2007, 2009, and 2010. The only opening time trial he lost was in 2005 when he finished seventh, although three riders in front of him would later get scrapped for the use of doping. Note that in 2008 and 2011, the tour commenced with a stage in line, which clearly showed that Gonchalara had a dominant streak going. However, in 2012, his position of being the best short time trellis in the world was at risk of being challenged. In the tour of Fllanders that year, he broke his collarbone. Once he recovered, he raced the tour to Swiss, but here he suffered a surprise defeat. In the streets of Lugano, Peter Sagan of Liugas was 4 seconds faster than the 31-year-old Swiss rider. In the junior ranks, Sagan already stood out as an incredibly talented rider, although not necessarily as a major talent on the road. He did do fine on the road. He performed well as a first year junior in several Nations Cup races and at the World Championships held in Mexico, he finished fourth. As a second year, he finished second in the prestigious course of Laape, the Peace Race. But the course of the World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa was too hard for him. He finished 18th. Why was he considered such a talent then? Well, well, he really stood out in the off-road disciplines. He won the cyclaccross race in Dham and finished second at the world championships in Traviso. He lost the sprint to Arno Zufra there. On the mountain bike, he became world and European champion. Back then, he already stole the show with numerous wheelies and technical flicks. Seeing his success in the off-road disciplines, Sagan preferred a career as off-road rider, but his management steered him towards the road, convinced he had great potential there. He underwent tests with Quickstep, but they rejected him. Angrily, Sagan vowed to never race on the road again. Nevertheless, he ended up signing with Dukala, a continental team from Slovakia. Still combining road with off-road racing, Sagon performed well in several East European races. In November, he was invited to undergo testing with Italian world team Liquigas. The team was absolutely stunned by the results of Sagan’s tests. They said they had never seen such a young rider push out such great numbers. Despite the fact that Sagan didn’t speak English or Italian, they offered him a 2-year contract. Being offered a pro contract after just one year as U23 was highly unusual at the time. But what was even more unusual was that Sagan required no time at all to adjust to the world tour. For the people who have seen Cars 3, the rise of Sagan was much like the rise of Jackson Storm. He would just was there all of a sudden winning big races. As a neopro, he immediately became the revelation of the spring. After a fifth place in the prologue, Sagan went on to win two hilly stages in Paris Nice, beating renowned names like Joakim Rodriguez. He continued doing well that season. He won another world stage in the tour to Romani and finished second in the GP Montreal. Sagan stormed the world to ranks like no other rookie. The rookie sensation Jackson came into the season unknown but everyone knows him now. In 2011, he won two stages in the tour to Swiss. In the tour of Poland, he won two stages and the overall. He made his grand tour debut in the VA and immediately won three stages. There was absolutely no consensus among pundits what type of rider Saigon would become. It was clear he was an extremely punchy rider who had a solid sprint capable of winning some mass sprints. However, due to some solid climbing performances, there was also the thought that he could still become a GC rider. He was compared to Eddie Mer, but to that Sagan said, “I don’t want to be a second Eddie Mer. I want to be the first Peter Sagan.” Saigon, for his part, had absolutely no intention to target the GC. His strength wasn’t in long climbs, and he knew it. He focused on becoming a versatile sprinter and attempted the spring classics for the first time in 2012. He finished second in Ken Vimham, fifth in the tour of Fllanders, and third in the Amsel gold race. After winning five stages in the tour of California, the prologue, and three further stages in the tour to Swiss, Sagan came into his tour debut as a hotshot, potentially capable of winning a hatful of stages. Much was made out of the battle Sagan Kulara before the tour prologue, but it turned out into an easy walkover for Konchala. The straightforward nature of the course already didn’t suit Sagan, but when he nearly crashed on a roundabout, all hope of a yellow jersey was gone for the rookie sensation. He failed to deliver when it mattered the most. Perhaps this was the first and only time that pressure got to Sagan’s head. When Kalara came onto the course, it was clear he was still very much the king of prologus. He completed the 6 km course 7 seconds faster than Skye’s Brettley Wiggins and Quickstep Silven Shaveel. It marked his eighth tour stage win. The first regular stage offered Sagan an opportunity to make up for the prologue. The stage to Seren was perfect for him. The finish was drawn on a 3.5 km climb which wasn’t too steep. The average gradient of 4.7% should be perfect for Sagan. As expected, the stage came down to a sprint up the climb. After Green Edge set the pace, Shavanel attacked with 2 km to go. The Frenchman made an attempt to take the yellow jersey, but got caught a bit later. With 1.5k to go, it was Galagara who attacked, eager to win a stage in the yellow jersey like he had done before. Sagan jumped to the will of the Mayo, but refused to take a turn despite several requests by the race leader. This allowed Edval Bosonhagen from sky to come across. Nevertheless, Gonchalara pushed to the line, not sure what to do. In the final meters, he obviously stood no chance against the much more explosive Sagan, who easily jumped from his wheel to take the stage win. He celebrated with a muscle man or perhaps a chicken dance celebration. Publicly, Kelara didn’t say too much about what happened, but internally he expressed frustration about the showmanship displayed by Sagan. A year later, he would say his way of celebrating showed a lack of respect for his opponents and that it was very unsportsmanlike of him to not take any turns on the climb towards the finish. Sagan finished sixth in stage two, which ended in a mass sprint. He took the lead of the points classification, but his eyes were set on the following day. The third stage took the riders to Bologna Sumere. The finish was drawn on a 700 m 7.4% section in the coastal town. A group of some 90 riders started the final kilometer together as the earlier escaped chaffanel was caught by the bunch. This finish was too explosive for Kelara but he was positioned well hoping to make the best of it. The lead into the final kilometer was tense. BMC and Green Edge much like in the first stage set a high pace hoping their leaders Philip Schubet and Simon Jiren could do something. Despite their best efforts, Gizbukman from Fansai had the punch left to attack. The Belgian had a strong attack and briefly opened a tiny gap over the rest. However, in the final corner with 140 m to go, Bman stalled. He had shot everything he had and it was game over for him. At that moment, Sagon came around the outside, seizing this was the moment, 140 m to the line, surely he could bring that to success. However, in the corner, Bookmas got distracted. Completely fatigued, completely cramped up, he abruptly steered to the left. He thought that the race needed to go into the car deviation set up for the team cars. Sagan at this point was already past bookming action. The Norwegian champion eventually sprinted to second and could perhaps have taken the stage win or at least been very close to Sagan had Bmonts followed the regular course. Sagan by that point was busy doing his forest gump celebrating yet another win. It was extraordinary that at such an age he won two stages already. Not all riders appreciated Sagan’s extravagant celebrations. After the stage, Robbie Hunter took to Twitter and wrote, “Great win by Sagan. Again, he is class, but I can’t say I enjoy his victory salutes in the face of his competitors.” As there were no bonus seconds, Sagan wasn’t able to make a bid for the yellow jersey. He was still 23 seconds down due to a disappointing prologue. It would take him until 2016 before he could finally wear the yellow jersey. In stage six, Sagan won his third and final stage. This time he came across the line victorious in a flat m sprint. He powered around Lotto’s Andre Grio and Greenedge Matthew Goss to win the stage. By now the commentators had grown accompanied to Sagan’s celebrations. They were not surprised when he crossed the line imitating the Hulk. Sagan insisted these celebrations were merely suggested by his teammates and he thought it was a funny way of bringing some life into the sometimes dull world of cycling. The debut tour of Sagan was remarkable. He became the youngest rider since Lance Armstrong in 1991 to win a stage. He was the youngest since Renee Vietto in 1934 to win three stages. Furthermore, he became an immediate fan favorite with his showmanship celebrations. This tour was obviously just the start for Sagan. He would become one of the greatest riders of his generation, winning 12 tour stages, seven green jerseys, three world titles, Paris rub, and the tour of Flanders. He retired in 2023. The most interesting thing here for me isn’t his stage one in Bologna. It isn’t even his sudden rise to power or the fact that he was just a super showman. No, I found it super interesting looking back at this. the strong reaction Sagan’s immediate presence at the top cost. We had the interview with Ganchelara. We had the tweet from Robbie Hunter, but there was also a sense of skepticism among commentators and pundits. Not necessarily doping related, but more is this what cycling needs? Do we need a showman like this? Is this what he should be doing at such young age? Is it disrespectful? Of course, over time, a lot of commentators warmed up to Sagan and his personality, and they saw what it could bring, and he was a favorite, especially among young children, which really made them change their opinion. But the general topic of is there enough respect for the old guard, the older riders? Are the young riders respectful enough? Is a topic that comes back every once in a while. Recently, I saw Lukea, who works for Lantern Rouge, post about it on Twitter. He commented on an article which was about the new generation of riders showing no respect for the old one and said, “This is something that all generations say and there’s no evidence for it.” I think he’s completely right in that. If you go back into the history of postWorld War II cycling, you can indeed see this is a reoccurring theme. When Eddie Merrick in the 60s had his first real big break in a criterium, he was in a break that was set up by Jacqu Anatil, the best cyclist at the time, multiple time to France winner. Ankatil set up a scheme to divide the prize money among the riders in the breakaway, but excluded Merik from it. It was a four-man break, and Merik was just expected to finish fourth in every sprint. Why? He was a young rider. He would need to earn a name for himself before he had right to that money. Merrick was not interested in that and sprinted until they included him in the scheme. Merrick earned some money, but afterwards there was the obvious complaint. Merrick doesn’t respect the old generation of riders. And Merrick, for his part, towards the end of the career started to say the same about a younger generation. And don’t even get me started on Baron Heo. The badger, the patron, when he was in charge of the pelatin, he thought whatever he wanted was what should happen. It was almost like he ruled with an iron fist. At the end of Heo’s career, he got engaged in a heated rivalry with American Greg Lamont. Despite being teammates, he know didn’t want to sacrifice leadership of the 1985 tour to France. Even though Lamont could win it, Lamont showed perhaps too much respect for the old guard and didn’t race for his own opportunities, eventually leading to Hino winning the tour. A year later, Lamont was supposed to be the leader of the team. However, he know did everything within his power to make sure he had the best opportunity of winning the race. Afterwards, when Lamont complained about this, it was he know who voiced the famous words, “The young riders don’t show enough respect.” In his words, he had done everything to take the pressure of Lemon, everything to keep the media away from him while everybody knows he know just wanted to win a record-breaking six tour back then. It’s something that comes back every single time. And like I said, I agree. There’s no real evidence for it. That will be it for this episode of the Cycling Iceberg Podcast. Thanks for listening and see you guys soon.