The legacy of Peter the Great

Peter Sagan has been a record breaker during his era. He won a record amount of World titles and brought the art of green jersey hunting in the Tour de France to another high. But even more than all his big sportive achievements, he also managed to lift up the sport as a whole. His impact as an athlete brought the sport to new highs after being stuck in deep valleys again before. His days as World champion brought the sport to a new era. Peter the Great ruled the headlines in sports outlets and brought the sport to new audiences, that never saw the sport in a positive light before. Years after, the impact of Peter Sagan can still be felt today. In this article, we look at how it all started, at his image during his high days, and how it still has an impact beyond on the sport, beyond his career. 

The uprising

The story of this special man starts in Borik, a district in Zilina. He's still a young boy at the time, who grows up in the 4th city of his home country Slovakia. A city where you can find unique cozy bars and charming restaurants in between not so inspirational tall apartment buildings from a former era. The young Peter grew up here together with his siblings Juraj, Milan & Daniela. Near his blue house at the end of a local street, he learned how to handle his favourite instrument. A simple bike where he already produced exceptional watts at his young age. The young boy didn't care much about luxury in life. While his age peer Michal Kwiatkowski already wore a tight training kit & drank sports drinks at his youth races, Peter preffered to still wear wide orange pants, and just drink water instead. 

The young Peter Sagan initially focuses on the disciplines that he enjoys the most : off-road cycling. His international silverware at the junior Mountainbike & Cyclocross World championships show the potential that he also had beyond road cycling. Two disciplines where he could use his techinical skills and didn't need to care much about the usual fuss that exists in the road peloton. It's not a suprise that he finished his career off road as well. The professional teams start to notice the young talent and he delivers great tests for the Quick-step team. But team manager Patrick Lefevere is afraid that the language barrier will make it hard to integrate him in the team. Peter Sagan only still speaks Slovak at the time. Later, an Italian coach who noticed him, would bring him to the Liquigas team.

Breakthrough

As a teenager, Peter Sagan makes his race debut for Liquigas in the Tour Down Under, where he already impresses a certain Lance Armstrong. But his big breakthrough would come in Paris-Nice, in March. He wins 2 stages ahead of some of the biggest names in the sport. The interviews afterwards are far from inspiring. He's still shy and can only respond with a few lines in Italian. No interesting quotes that would make him later in his career yet, no fan hype around him yet. This image would remain around him in the following years as well, despite his quick development. In 2012, he wins his first Tour de France stage, and we see the first signs of an extravert Sagan. He celebrates like a bird, and it would such as Forrest Gump in his next victory in the same race. The cycling World does not only get to know Peter Sagan as a cyclist, but also as an entertainer.

Dark clouds above the sport

January 2013, cycling relived its darkest days when Lance Armstrong admits his doping history in a two episode interview to Oprah Winfrey. Despite that the facts are sometimes more than 10 years ago, there are dark clouds above the sport again, and the fairness of the sport gets questioned once again. As an outsider, cycling didn't look like an attractive sport anymore to get involved again. 

The sport needs positive publicity, new energy that blows away the relics of the past. In times of controlled, often tactical racing, Peter Sagan is the 'rebel' who brings distraction in the sport. In 2013, he wins Ghent-Wevelgem after a late solo attack. He decides to lift up his front wheel when crossing the line and he becomes 'talk of the town'. One week later, he's the only rider who can stay close to later winner Fabian Cancellara in the Tour of Flanders. Peter Sagan is the new challenger in the sport, the new potential ruler who can carry the sport on his shoulders. But his playfulness also brings him in troubles. After his second place in Flanders, he decides to squeeze the ass of the podium hostess who's kissing the Swiss winner at that moment. It would lead to tons of discussions by everyone who was relevant & irrelevant in the sport. 

A new brand

His entourage noticed the potential that he could bring into the sport. His playful personality could bring him a lot of financial benefits, above the results that he achieved. But incidents like in the Tour of Flanders were not allowed to repeat again, in that strategy. His wife Katarina coordinates the new 'brand image' around her husband. After doing only interviews in Italian, Sagan started to learn English to reach a bigger international fanbase. Despite his lack of interest for everything online, everything on his social media certainly started  to look fancy and well written. Funny commercials with big international brands became the norm, despite being rare in cycling before. Sports news could broadcast videos about him dancing 'Grease' with his wife, so even when he wasn't racing, there was publicity around the brand Sagan all year long. Many of these videos also went viral, the then 25 years old rider, reached audiences that would otherwise never have watched anything about cycling before. The sport became again 'cool' and 'trendy' again instead of predictable & stuck in its dark past. In his speech after his first World title in 2015, he suddenly started to address the start of the refugee crisis and called for solidarity. The new ruler in the sport also started to raise his voice above the sport alone, he became Peter The Great who grew a personality beyond the sport alone. 

A lasting impact

In times that other sports already jumped on the social media train, cycling's online profile remained boring and purely informative. The US Postal affaires that gained prominence again in the early 2010s, threw the sport back again in the past, instead of moving forward in the new digital World. The earlier mentioned charisma of Peter Sagan and the digital promotion of that, showed that cycling could also become something that could be promoted beyond TV-coverage or informative newspaper reports. Other riders & teams took inspiration from it, to promote their athletes as well. Cyclists always had some local private sponsors that gave them some money or a car, but Peter Sagan showed that you can also gain promote a brand in the global digital world. Successors like Tadej Pogacar or Mathieu van der Poel were not only depending on the local manufactorer in their region to gain some extra money, they could now also get signed by big international brands, and bring highly rewarded publicity for them as global ambassadors. Cycling became a global trustworthy product again, that could be sold by the biggest brands. More local sponsors like Cofidis, FDJ & Lotto started to lose ground against the new big sponsors like Lidl & RedBull that discovered the commercial potential of the sport. Salaries & budgets reach record breaking heights today and the general reputation of the sport became clean & vibrant again. Peter Sagan himself is retired now, but his era as a pro, still impacts the sport today.