Bora-hansgrohe manager says Sagan “entering fall of his career”, may leave | Sticky Bottle

*Three-time world champion Peter Sagan has won a stage of Volta a Catalunya this year and was 4th in Milan-Sanremo so may not be finished just yet*

Bora-hansgrohe manager Ralph Denk has said Peter Sagan was entering the final phase of his a career and said the three-time world champion may not remain with the team.

Denk said talks were underway with Sagan about his future and a decision may be made by the end of the month. But he added the money the team spends on Sagan may be more wisely invested in youth.

Sagan - who is immensely popular with cycling fans all over the world - is said to be paid about €5 million per year, though some of that is believed to be paid by Specialized, the team’s bike sponsor.

Bora-hansgrohe had Sam Bennett on its books until the end of 2019 but after deciding not to support him in races, and to deny him a place at the Tour de France, Bennett left and has gone from strength to strength since then.

Sam Bennett was banging out the big wins for Bora-hansgrohe but the support for him from the team was patchy, at best, and he couldn't get a start in the Tour. However, when he decided to leave at the expiry of his contract, the team initially tried to force him to stay before relenting

Bora-hansgrohe tried to keep Bennett, saying for a long time he had given a commitment to stay on in 2020. However, Bennett was able to leave and when he joined Deceuninck-QuickStep he was given full support at the Tour and won two stages while also beat Sagan to the green jersey.

Denk told Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger that Sagan, whose current contract expires this year, his fifth with the team, had done a lot for the team but his future was not clear.

“Peter is entering the fall of his career,” Denk said.
“The outcome of our conversations is open.
We would like to make a decision in April but I don’t dare say which way
things are going.

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“We are very grateful for what Peter has meant to us. The
sponsors have received a lot of attention thanks to him, but he will be
entering the fall of his career.

“We also have to consider whether we still want to pay for that. Or is it better to invest that
money in youth?

“If Peter doesn’t stay, I have a lot of money available.
The sponsors trust that I can put together the best possible team with the
money.”

Denk named Egan Bernal, Wout Van Aert, Mathieu Van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and Julian Alaphilippe as the top five athletes in the sport. However, while he would love to sign one of them, he did not believe they would be on the move any time soon.

“I would be a bad team boss of I didn’t want one of these
superstars in the team, but it has to fit,”
Denk said of the top five riders he listed.

“At the moment I don’t see any of these with us in the
near future, because there are existing contracts or because of the philosophy
there doesn’t fit.”

“Maybe we’ll create our own star? That would be the cooler story. Maybe Lennard Kämna and Maximilian Schachmann are candidates for this role? They have already shown outstanding performances and they still have great potential. I will let myself be surprised.”