Peter Sagan: "I hope I am going to grow still for the Tour de France"

In the space of a week TotalEnergies have taken three stage wins at World Tour level, but the best news for the French team was perhaps the triumph of Peter Sagan who made his debut winning for the Pro Team.

“It’s nice to win, but I hope I am going to grow still for the Tour de France," Sagan recently told the media. After having his first half of the season spoiled with effects of Covid-19 and ilnesses, the signs were bad for the Slovakian who had rarely been apart of contention even in the sprints. He took a break from cycling when he realized he was not at a level to be competitive towards the cobbled classics, but returned to training in late April and began focusing on the race that has marked his career the most, the Tour de France.

A long altitude training camp in Utah saw him seemingly happy to be back on the bike, and those feelings have transmitted as Sagan returned to the peloton at the Tour de Suisse. Although initial signs in the climbs weren't good, stage three saw a bunch sprint in which he survived the day's climbs and sprinted towards the win. A win that not only was a sigh of relief, but also a very motivating one and important leading up to the Tour de France - with some saying he's back on track to fight for an eight green jersey.

"It was not easy the last four or five months, and it was not easy to turn back after a long break without racing. I was three months without races, and before I was racing, but I was sick, and I was struggling with what was going on with me," the Slovakian explained. He'll hope to have fully recovered from his health issues in order to be in the battle for stage wins and the points classification at the Tour.