Slovakia's top cyclist Peter Sagan is retiring from professional road cycling after a hugely successful career. (source: Marko Erd, SME)
He got off his bike, grabbed a hammer and off he went to help build the iron structure. With childish enthusiasm he was striking the joints.
"You have to hammer it hard. Otherwise it will collapse," Italian racer and teammate Daniel Oss told him.
"Do you think that will do?" Peter Sagan asked an elderly gentleman.
This is probably not the moment you will remember Peter Sagan for. In 2019, as part of a training session in Brussels, he decided to help workers build a piece of scaffolding. A few days later, Sagan started a battle for the seventh green jersey on the Tour.
It is only a small part of the large mosaic that creates the image of Peter Sagan at the Tour de France; a long story that even a ten-part TV series could not tell properly.
He advanced cycling and changed everything
Sagan is a combination of the best things a racer could bring to cycling. His performance was exceptional: he won 12 stages, wore the leader's yellow jersey for 4 days, the green jersey for 130 days, was the most active rider in an entire Tour, but also a selfless helper who led the way in a mountain stage to help a teammate, and a showman who entertained people.
And it did not matter if he finished first or last.
All you had to do is sit back and watch him. You were guaranteed a spectacle.
