{"id":136591,"date":"2016-02-26T11:05:10","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T09:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/?p=136591"},"modified":"2016-02-26T11:05:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T09:05:10","slug":"sagan-expects-a-sharp-confrontation-in-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/26\/sagan-expects-a-sharp-confrontation-in-belgium\/","title":{"rendered":"Sagan Expects a Sharp Confrontation in Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world champ Peter Sagan is going to start his European season this weekend with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne as a Tinkoff leader and is really looking forward to it.<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>“These races in Belgium are set to kick off the final phases of my preparation for the spring monuments, which, yet again, will be a great challenge to me. Both races are quite long and difficult and they nearly always indicate who will succeed in the spring part of the season. It will be the first test and I expect a sharp confrontation with the best riders,” concluded Sagan.<\/p>\n

The Slovakian rider\u2019s last race happened a month ago in Argentina, so his current form is a mystery. Peter is pretty positive though: \u201cI prepared diligently, I spent a lot of time at the training camp in Sierra Nevada and I know I’m doing well. I am interested in seeing how strong my opponents are.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Sagan could be the first rider to win one of the cycling\u2019s Monuments as a world champion since Paolo Bettini\u2019s triumph in Il Lombardia <\/span>2006<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It will definitely not be easy though. All the Belgian riders will want to prove themselves on <\/span>their home turf<\/span>, so a lot of early breakaways can be expected.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Do you think Peter has got what it takes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world champ Peter Sagan is going to start his European season this weekend with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":136593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,334,330],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-136591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","category-socialising-and-culture","category-urban-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nSagan Expects a Sharp Confrontation in Belgium - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The world champ Peter Sagan is going to start his European season this weekend with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne as a Tinkoff leader...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/26\/sagan-expects-a-sharp-confrontation-in-belgium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sagan Expects a Sharp Confrontation in Belgium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The world champ Peter Sagan is going to start his European season this weekend with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne as a Tinkoff leader...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/26\/sagan-expects-a-sharp-confrontation-in-belgium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-26T09:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/profi2412.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Buck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/26\/sagan-expects-a-sharp-confrontation-in-belgium\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/26\/sagan-expects-a-sharp-confrontation-in-belgium\/\",\"name\":\"Sagan Expects a Sharp Confrontation in Belgium - 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