A MOMENT IN TIME, 2013: PETER SAGAN GETS BUSTED

By Zap

The 2023 calendar hadn’t even flipped to February and already the sporting world had two GOAT’s announcing that they were moving on. One was Tom Brady, famous for throwing a football around. The other was Slovakian star Peter Sagan who broke the news that after a 14 year road career he was planning to step away from the tarmac to instead return to mountain bike racing (where he won his first rainbow jersey) in the run-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Peter Sagan’s retirement announcement

So, if in fact Peter does a better job staying true to his word than Tom did when he briefly “retired” last year, this will be the last year we see the smile, high-jinx and winning ways from one of the world’s most popular riders. To that end, we decided to start highlighting some of our favorite Peter Sagan moments from over the years…starting with the day we joined him for his first-ever foray at an AMA Supercross back in 2013 at the season opener at Anaheim Stadium.

PETER SAGAN AT THE 2013 AMA SUPERCROSS OPENER

The day started out with a group ride that included some dealers as well as mountain bike champion Tinker Juarez (far left) and AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes (4th from right). As a fashion nod aside – gasp – look at all those white shoes!!

Like a majority of his throttle twisting co-horts, factory Honda rider Trey Canard is an avid cyclist and was excited to meet Peter and ask him what it was like to ride on the WorldTour.

In between races we gained entry into the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit team semi where Sagan was able to talk training with team riders (L-R) Blake Baggett, Tyla Rattray, and Martin Davalos.

No, Peter didn’t actually get arrested that night, but once the cop asked what all the fan commotion was around the LiquiGas Cannondale rider and then requested an autograph, Peter happily doled one out in exchange for this photo opportunity. Photo: Zap

A few months following the Supercross, Peter was back in California to attend the Tour of California with his ravenous fans at the ready. Foto: CVi/BettiniPhoto©2013