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Peter Sagan wins his second Tour de France stage, is totally going to win green jersey again

Sagan’s dominance on flat sprints wasn’t a sign that his form had changed. Wednesday proved he’s just that terrifyingly good.

by Louis Bien

Jul 11, 2018, 3:57 PM UTC

Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

Peter Sagan was carrying extra weight on him, they said. There’s no other way he could be so competitive on flat sprints, they said.

If you were wondering about Sagan’s form going into the 2018 Tour de France — that’s defending world champion and Paris-Roubaix winner Peter Sagan, mind you — Stage 5 on Wednesday should put any skepticism to rest. The Slovakian followed a move by Philippe Gilbert on the final climb to the finish in Quimper, and was pulling away from Sonny Colbrelli at the line to win his second stage of the race.

Sagan has now finished in first place twice, and second place twice in five stages, only somewhat struggling during Monday’s team time trial.

Historically speaking, it should be no surprise that Sagan won Wednesday. The hilly parcours has been his bread-and-butter throughout the 28-year-old’s career. Still, it wasn’t improper to ask how he had been doing so well on the Tour’s three flat sprint stages. Only young Colombian phenom Fernando Gaviria has been able to best him, and not sprint-stage stalwarts like Marcel Kittel and André Greipel.

We have our answer: Sagan is really that f’ing good. It’s impossible to compare his thighs to Greipel’s and not wonder where he’s keeping that power, but it’s clearly there, and on Wednesday he proved that his classics-stage bona fides are perfectly intact.

With the win, Sagan will assuredly wear the green points jersey in Paris for a sixth time, barring a crash or an overzealous race jury. And whatever happens, there can be no questioning that Sagan is still the best cyclist in the world.