Without a doubt, Peter Sagan is one of cycling’s greats, winning 3 World Championships, 7 Tour de France Green (points) jerseys, and 120 races since he entered the pro ranks in 2009. But at age 32, with only one major win in 2022 at the Tour of Switzerland, it appears Sagan is entering his twilight years as a competitor. This was confirmed in 2021 when Sagan made the move from a 1st tier UCI World Team (Bora-Hansgrohe), to a 2nd tier UCI Pro Team (TotalEnergies), taking along with him his usual entourage of domestiques, staff members, and his bike sponsor Specialized.
While many Pro Teams compete at the same level with top level World Teams and receive wild card invitations to the Grand Tours, many wondered why someone of Sagan’s stature would choose to step down and join a Pro Team. So, what’s up with Sagan and this recent career move? How well has it worked out for him? Let’s take a look at why TotalEnergies and Sagan joined forces.
UCI World Team Status
Originally, Sagan’s move to TotalEnergies was about helping the team win more races and acquire the needed UCI points so that the team could move up and become a UCI World Team in 2023. At the moment, there are only 18 spots available at the World Team level and several teams are in danger of being relegated down to the Pro Team level. Consequently, many sponsors are worried that their team might be relegated or not qualify for World Team status. Some have gone as far to suggest lawsuits if the UCI doesn’t change their rules.
While there have not yet been any announcements from the UCI, there may still be some hope for these teams to move up to World Team level. At the time of this writing, the UCI was in the process of rethinking whether it would be advantageous or not to expand the World Team pool to 20 teams. If so, much of the battle for UCI points this autumn between these bottom teams may very well have been for naught. If, however, the answer from the UCI is nay – no expansion – then teams like Sagan’s TotalEnergies team will just have to work a bit harder to ensure that they get wild card invites for the 2023 World Team races.
So, back to Sagan. Did he bring in the needed UCI points? Not really. Out of the top ten riders on his team Sagan was only 7th in UCI points – hardly a decisive contribution – and the team ended this season only in 17th place. While 17th place puts the team inside the top 18 teams, it has been reported that the team has decided not to apply for a WorldTour license for 2023, but has opted for a ProTour license. Whatever the case is, it’s clear that Sagan isn’t able to win as he did in the past and that TotalEnergies will need to find some riders who can win if they hope to move to the WorldTour level.
2022 UCI Points: TotalEnergies Team
| Position | UCI Points | Rider | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.143 | Dries van Gestel | |
| 2 | 880 | Julien Simon | |
| 3 | 773 | Anthony Turgis | |
| 4 | 713 | Alexis Vuillermoz | |
| 5 | 582 | Pierre Latour | |
| 6 | 516 | Sandy Dujardin | |
| 7 | 468 | *Peter Sagan | |
| 8 | 417 | Mathieu Burgaudeau | |
| 9 | 344 | Valentin Ferron | |
| 10 | 306 | Edvald Boasson-Hagen |
Star Power
Perhaps more important than any UCI points was TotalEnergies need to sign a star rider. No team can win all the time (or even some of the time), so it’s become more vital than ever for teams to sign riders who can bring star power. Sagan’s achievements are such that he attracts fans regardless of whether he wins or not. Quite simply, he’s got star power.
More to come …
