Peter Sagan has questioned if Ralph Denk, the manager of his Bora-hansgrohe team, really said he was in the final stages of his career, but insisted if Bora-hansgrohe didn’t want him to win races for them he’d just find another team.
Sagan, who is still just 31 years old, has been with the
German WorldTour team for five seasons and his contract expires at the end of
this year.
He has 115 pro wins in his palmares, three world titles,
seven Tour de France green jerseys and 12 stage wins in the French Grand Tour
along with victories in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
Sagan is said to earn about €5 million a year and Denk suggested that money may be better spent on younger riders, adding in an interview with a German news outlet that Sagan was now entering the “fall” – autumn – of his career.
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Denk added that Sagan and the team would discuss the
rider's future in coming weeks with a decision hopefully reached by the end of
April. He spoke very much in terms what Sagan had already done for the team,
and thanked him for that, rather than looking to the future working with Sagan.
Such comments are often timed to put pressure on cyclists
and agents as new contracts are being discussed, with riders and agents also
often planting stories in the media about a rider being in demand by several
teams.
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However, Denk’s remarks were perhaps more blunt, and sounded
a little more final, than words designed to hurry contract negotiations along
or to lower a rider’s salary demand.
He may have chosen his words deliberately in a bid to lower Sagan’s very large salary or he may be genuinely intent on recruiting other riders, only time will tell.
Speaking to cyclingnews ahead of the Tour of Flanders, which he won five years ago, Sagan spoke about his manager’s comments. And while he chose his words carefully he also made the point his career would easily continue without Bora-hansgrohe.
“I don’t know if Ralph said exactly what was written in
the media, I haven’t read it and sometimes a phrase in an interview gets taken
out of context,” Sagan said.
“I honestly don’t feel old. I’m 31, I don’t feel in the
autumn of my career and I think I’ve shown I can still win races even if my
spring has been hampered by the Covid-19 virus,” he added of his Volta a
Catalunya stage win after his 4th in Milan-Sanremo.
“I’ve been busy racing so I haven’t yet sat down to talk
with Ralph, so my future has still to be decided. I’ve had some great
years at Bora-Hansgrohe but if Ralph sees me as past my best then that’s his
opinion.
“If he thinks he doesn’t need me to win races for the
team, I’ll be the first person to try to find a team that really wants me.”
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