“If there are a
hundred riders at the start of a race, there will be a hundred stories told at
the end. Mine is a story about wearing
the UCI Rainbow Jersey three years in a row.
That’s something you can only hear from me.
“From 2015 to 2017, Peter Sagan achieved the seemingly
impossible: He won three UCI World
Championships in a row, ensuring his entry into the history books as one of the
greatest riders of all time.
“But Peter doesn’t just win.
He entertains. Every moment in
the saddle is an opportunity to express his personality, from no-hands wheelies
on the slopes of Mont Ventoux to press-conference mischief with clamoring
journalists. Peter exudes a passion for
the sport and a lovable desire to bring smiles to the faces of his fans.
“What motivates the man they call the Tourminator? How does he approach a sprint? What’s his take on the other guys in the
peloton? With unwavering honesty and
characteristic humor, My World
reveals the man who has lit up the world of professional cycling.”
I’ve been woefully behind in my reviewing… This book was actually a February read! Life is starting to calm down in some ways,
but it’s picking up in others – we’ll see how that bodes for my
reading/reviewing schedule. For
now: The long-delayed review.
I received this book as a holiday gift from my husband’s
aunt out in California. She and I have a
similar passion for professional road cycling (and I’ve been trying to make it
out to visit her for the Tour of California for several years now…alas…it has
never quite worked out). I fell in love
with the sport in 2010 when I moved to Charlotte, NC. My uncle has loved it for years and is an
avid amateur cyclist, himself. He showed
me my first stage of Le Tour de France and took me to my first spin class. A couple of years ago I finally purchased my
first real road bike and boy did I put it to good use. I’ve yet to ride a race or with a group, but
I love the thrill of it. In order to
truly appreciate the sport, you have to fully comprehend just how much cyclists
put their bodies through. My husband
(lover of American football and hockey) will disagree with me, but I fully
believe that cyclists are some of the world’s most elite athletes. They constantly push their bodies past
breaking points; they test physical, mental, technological, and emotional limits;
they hurt themselves on agonizing race days and pick themselves up to do it all
over again the next morning; they ride with broken limbs and shoulders and even
backs. This is not just a sport or a
passion: this is their life. There’s no true lengthy off-season for them
unless they decide to remove themselves from the sport entirely because there’s
almost always a race somewhere around the world or some sort of different
training or conditioning to be done.
This leads me to one of my favorite riders: Peter Sagan of Slovakia. He’s a three-time UCI World Champion. He’s won stage after stage of Le Tour de
France, taken home the Green Jersey for sprint points on several occasions, and
won a significant number of other races and accolades. He’s a jokester, one of the most entertaining
(and exciting!) riders to watch in this sport, and he’s also one of the most
decorated. Not to mention he’s my age –
it blows my mind that he’s accomplished all of this before the age of thirty. When I heard Sagan was putting out a book
detailing his unprecedented sequence of years in the revered Rainbow Jersey, I
couldn’t wait to read it. I was even
more excited when I realized that there was no co-author. When I began reading, I could hear Sagan’s
sense of humor and passion – notes of which I’ve witnessed in various
interviews and the like over the years.
I knew what I thought was a fair amount about Sagan from my
years of watching him ride the Grand Tours.
What I didn’t know was just how he’d struggled in his early years and
how much he and his brother (also a professional cyclist worth his own salt)
owed to their dedicated father. They
grew up in a country with little to no support for a youth cycling
circuit. When faced against other
European countries, theirs looked like a ragtag bunch. Still, Sagan persevered and knew that he
loved the sport and he could be damn good at it.
We get to witness a side of professional racing that isn’t
often covered in media: the behind the
scenes with the politics of owning, forming, and running a team, coupled with
attempting to decide just who would be the “leader.” (For those of you who aren’t big cycling fans
it may be strange to know that cycling is BOTH an individual and a team sport
AT THE SAME TIME. Teammates will
sacrifice themselves to get their leader or sprinter into a good position for
points or a stage win, but there are instances where the plans may change if
someone else has a clearly better shot.
Sagan details all of this in a much better way than I ever could. If you’re ever curious, I highly recommend
watching a few stages of Le Tour this year – the commentary is usually
excellent and very beginner-friendly.)
For the most part, teams are comprised of riders from all over the
world. There are language barriers,
culture differences, and clashing egos.
The same goes for the support staff (the sometimes dozens of people who
train, manage, transport, support, etc. the riders). This can lead to some volatile situations and
difficult decisions. I found this
insight to be particularly interesting coming from Sagan’s point of view. He manages to delve deeply into this hidden
side of the professional cycling world while still maintaining his happy
persona. Not once does he attack anyone
and, in fact, he seems to like (or at least respect) just about every single
person he discusses. I was especially
impressed with his views on other riders.
He remained very diplomatic and had something complimentary about every
single rider he mentioned – even Cavendish.
Those of you who do watch the sport will know all about Sagan’s
controversial expulsion from Le Tour de France a few years ago after a sprint
collision between Sagan and another well-known sprinter from the Isle of Man,
Cavendish. I encourage you to look up the
footage (it shouldn’t be too hard to find).
I had my own personal opinions on the incident, but I was extremely
excited to read Sagan’s point of view.
His take was straightforward and, to my surprise, he wasn’t bitter
toward Cavendish at all (I’ll leave my personal opinions about this out). I found it extremely admirable – especially
when the media and frustrated cycling teams/fans definitely made an enormous
deal out of the situation (and they’re not wrong).
I feel like this review has strayed a bit from a review of a
book and more into an account of my love for cycling and how impressed I am
with Sagan. What this really boils down
to are the facts that I enjoyed reading this book, I loved all the insight and
personal jokes, and I had a lot of fun seeing a more personal side of a very,
very popular cyclist. This book
humanized him and made me even more impressed with the man and athlete that he
is. There really are a hundred stories
in a hundred-man road race and Sagan makes it very clear that these are just
his own experiences, his own time in the saddle.
Parts of the book do jump around a bit, though they do, for
the most part, circle back fairly well.
It reads less like a structured nonfiction book and more like a stream
of consciousness in which there’s somehow an underlying tie-in to it all in
each chapter, you just may not see it yet.
I feel the included pictures were a great touch for a book written by a
man with as much vivacity, humor, and tenacity as Sagan.
If you’re a lover of cycling, then this is a must-read. You get some very interesting personal
stories and glimpses into the ins and outs of the sport. It’s fairly quick and easy to read because it
rings of Sagan’s easygoing attitude. It
definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously (read the book and you’ll get the
inside joke there). If you know nothing
about cycling or have some vague notions, then there are probably some terms or
races you’ll have to research and the structure of the sport may be a bit
beyond you; however, I have faith that Sagan’s personality will help draw you
in and, perhaps, even make you a fan of cycling, too. This book is clearly not written by a
professional author, but I think that makes it pretty charming.
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