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Video: Peter Sagan rides side-saddle

World champion does another of those tricks you should file under "don't try this at home"...

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.

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.  

> Peter Sagan videos – Nine of the best

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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Carton | 7 years ago
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I need to learn this move. Used to do it over the top tube way back when, but once I went clipless (and started riding proper bikes) the risk of scratching the frame became far too evident.

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