"This is why we can't have nice things": Spacer-heavy stem set-up stresses cycling Twitter; Peter Sagan to retire from road cycling at the end of 2023 (+ a look back at Sagan's good, bad and ugly moments); Toilet talk + more on the live blog

With that we'll leave you until Monday when Ryan will be back on live blog duty. Have a great weekend everyone!

We love to laugh together on the blog at our mechanical mishaps. We're not getting all high and mighty about our own perfection as home 'mechanics', I've done more stupid things than I'd care to admit as a cycling journalist...

Anyway, here are a few classics from the archives...

> Can it be real? Mechanic shares double cleat horror set up

In the words of the mechanic who sent it to us... ​"I say 'alright, let me see your shoes', at which point he takes them off and hands them to me. I must have stared for two minutes straight — not uttering a word — fully expecting cosmic black holes to open up on the bottoms of those kicks."

> Flippin' clip-in nightmare: Bike fitter's disbelief at client's upside down AND backwards cleats

And no, as someone asked, they aren't cleats set up the Australian way...

> "This needs an exorcist, not a mechanic": You'll never train indoors without a towel again

Who could forget these... last but most certainly not least...

> Is there any rubber left? The impossibly worn tyre that earned bike shop visitor a standing ovation from mechanics... after he only came in "for a tube"

There are probably more people who haven't heard of Marshall 'Major' Taylor than have, even amongst cyclists; but his great-granddaughter Karen Brown-Donovan wants to change that by calling for Taylor - once named the world's fastest cyclist and arguably the first superstar black athlete in the western hemisphere - to be awarded a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal in the US. 

"He went through things that people today can never even imagine," said Brown-Donovan, who has also called for a monument to be erected in her great-grandfather's honour. 

After working in a bike shop then turning pro in 1896, Taylor's palmares included numerous world records and six-day victories, gold in the 1-mile sprint at the 1899 World Track Championships and two national sprint victories, all in the face of a great deal of racial prejudice he endured along the way. He died penniless in 1932 after suffering a heart attack. 

We reported in 2021 that singer John Legend was producing a film about Taylor that was to be named 'The Black Cyclone', however to our knowledge the film is yet to come to fruition. You can watch this short ESPN doc about him instead though, enjoy! 

You can accuse Peter Sagan of many things, just not being boring...

The good 

There's almost too much good to mention in a live blog post...

The wins, all 121 of them, including that imperious first world title, two subsequent, a 50km attack and sprint victory in Roubaix and a Cancellara-besting Flanders. He's almost won it all...

But it's also the antics away from the front of bike races that won Sagan the hearts of the cycling world — THAT Grease recreation, coming to the aid of a "flabbergasted" British cyclo-tourist in Gran Canaria, signing his autobiography for a fan mid-stage, joining Arnold Schwarzenegger in urging commuters to swap cars for bikes, the wheelies and the interviews...

> Peter Sagan: Cycling is "a boring sport" to watch on TV

The bad

After revealing all about his Roubaix win in his autobiography, Sagan was branded an "idiot" by Jelle Wallays for repeatedly bashing the rear wheel of the Belgian’s bike to try to straighten his handlebars. Not one to copy on the group ride...

Then, in 2020 Sagan was quick to take to social media to strenuously deny involvement in a bizarre get-rich-quick Bitcoin article. In the article, Sagan was said to have appeared on a Slovakian TV show and told the audience how the cryptocurrency platform can "make a millionaire out of anyone in 3 to 4 months", accompanied by a crudely edited photo of the three-time world champion and a TV host. 

"The truth is that a few minutes after the interview was completed, representatives of the Slovak National Bank called for the interview not to be broadcast, but it was too late", the article stated.

But Sagan was quick to insist he was not involved, saying: "​I categorically deny having any involvement, in any form, in what is mentioned in this article. I have never been in contact with any of the persons or companies mentioned and any allegation to the contrary is false." 

We'll take your word, Peter. One thing Sagan did apologise for was pinching a podium girl's bottom after finishing second at the Tour of Flanders in 2013...(good to see official race social accounts have moved on too)...

"I never should have done it. I am so sorry and I hope Maya and anyone else I have offended knows how sorry I am and accepts my apology. I promise to act more respectfully in future," the then-23-year-old Sagan said.

The ugly

That 2017 Tour de France disqualification after barging Mark Cavendish into the barriers during a sprint finish is perhaps the biggest professional blot on the copy book.

> Videos: Peter Sagan says he accepts Tour de France disqualification — but disagrees with it

Then in November 2021 there was the fine for breaking Monaco lockdown curfew and injuring a police officer. 

What memories will the enigmatic entertainer make in his final season on the road?

 

 

 

 

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The big news from Vuelta a San Juan overnight was not the racing (no, for reasons unclear to all, the week-long stage race had a rest day) but instead an announcement from one of biggest stars in the sport of the past decade...

Yep, Peter Sagan is retiring. The charismatic all-conquering king of 2010s cycling, who won the World Championship road race three years in a row between 2015 and 2017, has seven Tour de France green jerseys, 12 Tour stages, a Paris-Roubaix cobble and a Flanders win on his palmares, is entering his final season on the road.

Speaking at the season-opening race, Sagan explained he would end his career back on knobbly tyres, targeting the mountain bike event at the 2024 Paris Olympics...

"I've always said that I wanted to end my career on mountain biking because that's where I started. Being able to finish like this, it's going to be something nice. It's important for me to spending time with my son Marlon and seeing life from different perspectives and not just as a cyclist.

"I never dreamed of running or being a professional cyclist until I was 40 or 50. I think it's time now."

But the 33-year-old doesn't see his final year on the road as a procession and he "wants to be at my best". One final Tour stage and, with Wout seemingly uninterested, perhaps even a green jersey in Paris?