Video: Peter Sagan rides side-saddle

World champion Peter Sagan has a habit of coming up with videos that should be filed under “don’t try this at home,” and his latest is no exception as he changes, mid-ride, from sitting astride his bike to what is, in effect, a side-saddle position more commonly adopted by some female equestrians.

Have a nice week and ride your bike! Pekný týždeň všetkým a nezabudnite bicyklovať! pic.twitter.com/qYPzDjCgp2

— Peter Sagan (@petosagan) November 7, 2016

It’s a great bit of bike handling from the 26-year-old Slovak, and culminates in him sitting on the top tube of his bike in a pose more often associated with a woman riding a horse side-saddle.

The style of riding has been traced back to the ancient world then became popular among the aristocracy in the middle ages when Anne of Bohemia devised a saddle she could ride on while travelling to England in 1281 ahead of her wedding to Richard II.

The saddle design evolved over the centuries – Catherine de Medici is said to have helped develop it in the Sixteenth Century – and more recently Queen Elizabeth II rode side-saddle at Trooping the Colour for more than three decades, the last time being in 1986 after which she switched to a carriage.  

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