World road champion Peter Sagan got married to fiancée Katarina Smolkova today – and the happy couple’s nuptials in the town of Dolny Kubin in their home country, Slovakia, didn’t pass unnoticed on social media.
The 25-year-old Tinkoff-Saxo rider, who this year won the green jersey at the Tour de France for the fourth year running before clinching the rainbow jersey in Richmond, Virginia, is a huge star in Slovakia.
The bride wore white and the groom wore … well, something that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a field marshal in Napoleon’s army or, especially given the coat he was wearing before the ceremony, Game of Thrones.
There’s a school of thought that it is traditional marriage attire for a Slovakian man, though a search on Google suggests otherwise.
Here’s a video of him arriving at the ceremony in a Trabant – green, to match those Tour de France points jerseys (the bride arrived in a white vintage Citroen) – then chopping a log, first with a hacksaw, then a chainsaw, a traditional touch that is supposed to demonstrate the groom’s willingness to help solve problems in married life.
And here are some pictures of the new Mr & Mrs Sagan after the ceremony.
@petosagan and @KateSmolkova congratulations. pic.twitter.com/MgGACZs9wU
— ♡ Cycling ♡ (@cannondalegirls) November 11, 2015
Oh, and if you want to see pictures of Peter Sagan, in his wedding outfit, on something that looks like a scaled down penny farthing 12 feet in the air while his bride scales a rope ladder below … well, here’s your chance. More pictures here. Oh, and lots more here.
I said I wouldn't look but WHAT is this?!?!?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/8XcHSqOcaw
— . (@fifi_bellamy) November 11, 2015
Best wishes to the newlyweds from all of us at road.cc.
Simon has been news editor at road.cc since 2009, reporting on 10 editions and counting of pro cycling’s biggest races such as the Tour de France, stories on issues including infrastructure and campaigning, and interviewing some of the biggest names in cycling. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, his background has proved invaluable in reporting on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, and the bike industry. He splits his time between London and Cambridge, and loves taking his miniature schnauzer Elodie on adventures in the basket of her Elephant Bike.