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

Three-time world champion admits he only ever watches the last 5 kilometres of a race

Road world champion Peter Sagan, whom many view as one of the most exciting riders in the peloton, believes bike races on television are boring and can’t understand why people would sit through them for hours at a time.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider, who finished second to Elia Viviani of Quick Step Floors on Sunday’s final stage of the Vuelta, made his comments in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Asked whether he believed riders in the peloton needed more freedom, the Slovakian went off at a tangent and questioned why anyone would want to watch the sport in the first place.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “Taking an example, if I’m watching a 200-kilometre bike race on TV, if I switch the TV on with 100 kilometres to go they [the riders] are still the same, and 20 kilometres from the line, they’re the same.

“However, in going from 100 to 20 kilometres, two hours have passed, you’re in front of the TV with nothing happening.

“But if you only look at the last 10 kilometres – or five kilometres or one kilometre – everything changes at high speed, even in the sprint stages.

“If though you turn on with 100 kilometres to go, you feel asleep, right? Then you wake up 10 kilometres from the end and you’re curious to see how it finishes.

“Do we think people like to watch this? I don’t understand it. For me, it’s a boring sport, and when I’m watching it I only watch the last five kilometres.”

Had Sagan been watching last year’s world championship road race on TV – rather than riding it and claiming the rainbow jersey for the third year in a row – he wouldn’t even have been able to do that.

The television relay failed with 4 kilometres to go, leaving viewers and commentators in the dark over what was happening, with only the finish line camera working.

At the time the signal disappeared,  it was touch and go whether a late attack by France’s Julian Alaphilippe and Italy’s Gianni Moscon would stick, or whether the pair would be caught – which is what happened as Sagan sprinted to victory for a third year in a row.

Some wags on social media said that the absence of TV pictures, other than the fixed finish line camera, was just like being at the race itself, and to be fair they had a point.

Sagan’s comments – unlikely to go down well with race organisers or the sponsors of the team that pays his hefty wages, return on investment calculated in large part on TV exposure of the brands whose names are on this jersey – seem aimed more at the three week Grand Tours rather than races such as the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, where the key Arenberg cobbles come almost 100 kilometres from the finish.

While research from France Televisions shows that each year, as many people tune in to the Tour de France for the scenery as do for the racing itself, Team Sky’s continuing domination of the race is causing viewers to switch off, both in its home country and elsewhere.

At the same time, race radios, power meters and well organised teams have increasingly led to a more formulaic style of racing – hence the moves by race organisers to try and inject some excitement by introducing short, tough mountain stages, for example.

Nevertheless, there are a handful riders who do have the ability to single-handedly light up a bike race, and whose presence on the start line alone will guarantee people settling down on the sofa to watch the race unfold and wait for them to make their move.

Unfortunately for Peter Sagan, one of those riders happens to be Peter Sagan, so he would only be able to watch a recording … by which time, of course, he would know the result.

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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27 comments

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froze | 5 years ago
0 likes

I use to race non professionally at cat 3 and I too find cycling boring to watch on TV, and then have to listen to brain dead announcers trying to fill in dead space with nonsense;  I find this true with most sports that's televised.

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J90 | 5 years ago
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I feel like real fans watch at least 50km on average, bar maybe sprint stages. I love a team time trial too, poetry in motion.

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RTB | 5 years ago
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Don't think his sponsors or those in the rest of the peloton will be too pleased to hear that. 

Anyone would think elite cycling is flush with money right now and doesn't need TV exposure.

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fukawitribe | 5 years ago
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OTIO

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fixit | 5 years ago
1 like

well, it is sometimes, but the scenery is beautifull and this is the main reason we watch it al lthe way (except paris-roubaix where everything and anything is possible from start to finish!!)

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DaSy | 5 years ago
2 likes

I'm with cbrnc above, I love to watch the early work by the big rouleurs, pulling back dangerous breaks and fighting to control the pace for their GC hopefuls. You rarely even see the likes of Ben Swift or Ian Stannard's hard work in the early part of a stage on the TV coverage, unless it's on the rare days that Eurosport follow the whole stage.

I'm not glued to it all day, but do watch several hours of a stage that is fully televised. But then, I am one of those who enjoys watching all the riders in a GT TT or Worlds ITT; I just like watching good people ride bikes well I suppose.

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cbrndc | 5 years ago
3 likes

I couldn't disagree more. I like to see how a breakaway happens, the cat and mouse antics, who goes and who stays with the peloton. I like the tension of the chase. I like the scenery also. Just seeing the last few kilometres doesn't tell me much about the race and if that's all I can get to see I generally don't bother.

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cptlik | 5 years ago
1 like

I definately enjoy watching the highlight of a GT and think that whole hour (in ITV's case) is interesting (noting that normally the highlights start well into the stage) but i rekon if i had the live coverage on it would kind of be background.  Like Sagan says - there is not much happening for most of the stage especially a flatter one.  But this is comparable (kind of) to cricket where you can have it on all day in the background but might not be glued to the T.V.

I always wonder, especially for a flatter stage, why they are so long.  Would it make any difference to the result if it were say 80 miles instead of 130?

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cyclisto | 5 years ago
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Watching sports can get really boring overall, cycling is no exception.

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FluffyKittenofT... | 5 years ago
4 likes

It's because they don't feature enough terrifying close-passes or demented gammon-faced motorists ranting incoherently.  Just cyclists cycling with nobody trying to kill them - kinda boring.

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davel | 5 years ago
2 likes

It'd be a lot more boring without Sagan.

Generally, highlights FTW - but I watch the odd stage of a grand tour, when I can. It helps that they take place in three stunning countries, so even when the riding's boring, the scenery's often worth a watch.

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to davel | 5 years ago
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davel wrote:

It'd be a lot more boring without Sagan.

Generally, highlights FTW - but I watch the odd stage of a grand tour, when I can. It helps that they take place in three stunning countries, so even when the riding's boring, the scenery's often worth a watch.

It'd also be safer for those near him, he wouldn't be missed, there's plenty of talent/entertaining riders..

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handlebarcam | 5 years ago
5 likes

I can see how a young, jet-setting, millionaire (probably) might hold such an opinion. He probably cares nothing about seeing foreign landscapes and architecture, or the steady rhythm of the breakaway's advantage ebbing and flowing. But, then again, right now on ITV4 they're showing the 473rd repeat of an episode of Minder, followed by The Saint, and latter a double-bill of fourth-rate reality TV show Storage Wars. By comparison, live coverage of the Tour de France is positively enthralling.

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Yorkshire wallet replied to handlebarcam | 5 years ago
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handlebarcam wrote:

I can see how a young, jet-setting, millionaire (probably) might hold such an opinion. He probably cares nothing about seeing foreign landscapes and architecture, or the steady rhythm of the breakaway's advantage ebbing and flowing. But, then again, right now on ITV4 they're showing the 473rd repeat of an episode of Minder, followed by The Saint, and latter a double-bill of fourth-rate reality TV show Storage Wars. By comparison, live coverage of the Tour de France is positively enthralling.

Swap out Storage Wars for The Sweeney and The Professionals and that's better than watching a flat cycling stage. 

I only watch flat stages on the highlights as it's rare anything out of the ordinary happens. 

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PRSboy | 5 years ago
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This ties in neatly with the other thread on the demise of JLT Condor, AquaBlue etc due to lack of funding.

Why would you want to sponsor a sport that even the contestants think is dull!

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lordrobs | 5 years ago
1 like

Totally agree. People often talk to me about TdF, TdB, Giro etc. because I like to ride but as a spectator sport it ranks just above watching paint dry for me!

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The_Vermonter replied to lordrobs | 5 years ago
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lordrobs wrote:

Totally agree. People often talk to me about TdF, TdB, Giro etc. because I like to ride but as a spectator sport it ranks just above watching paint dry for me!

The sport certainly struggles with format issues and it is not helped by hipsters who, when cycling attempts something new (TdF's 65km stage and grid start), it is scoffed at rather than embraced or at least constructively discussed on how to improve it. Also, I think people want absurdly long stages because the sport weirdly fetishizes "suffering" and black-and-white photos of guys with dirty faces. Credit to British TV for showing a national criterium series. That's entertaining racing.

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brooksby replied to lordrobs | 5 years ago
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lordrobs wrote:

Totally agree. People often talk to me about TdF, TdB, Giro etc. because I like to ride but as a spectator sport it ranks just above watching paint dry for me!

I'm actually the opposite.  I'm a commuter/utility cyclist in real life rather than a dyed-in-the-lycra roadie, and yet I can happily watch road cycling on the telly.

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dassie | 5 years ago
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Yep, recording highlights is the way to go.  That way one can generally skip to near the end on sprint stages, or avoid the adverts to enjoy the climbing for a mountain stage.  The only benefit of watching the live coverage sometimes is the scenery & helicopter footage.

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oldmixte | 5 years ago
5 likes

I was amazed at the lack of touristy stuff from the Tour of Britain. Even when the helicopter passed over something interesting it didn't  zoom in, the commentators hardly mentioned any details of anything historic or interesting on the route.  As the TDF found out it was an excellent showcase for French tourism, but it seems the Tour of Britain folks are not interested in promoting the glories of this wonderful isle, shame on them.

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The_Vermonter replied to oldmixte | 5 years ago
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OldMixte wrote:

I was amazed at the lack of touristy stuff from the Tour of Britain. Even when the helicopter passed over something interesting it didn't  zoom in, the commentators hardly mentioned any details of anything historic or interesting on the route.  As the TDF found out it was an excellent showcase for French tourism, but it seems the Tour of Britain folks are not interested in promoting the glories of this wonderful isle, shame on them.

In fairness to the broadcasters of the Tour of Britain, they're working with a fraction of the resources as the Tour de France. Also, many of the cycling world's resources are at the Vuelta a España at the same time. However, I do agree that cycling can be a great tool to advertise parts of a country that are often overlooked. As someone who loved visiting and cycling around South Wales, it was a bit disappointing to not see some of the things I found interesting during stage 1 this year.

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Looper35uk replied to oldmixte | 5 years ago
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OldMixte wrote:

I was amazed at the lack of touristy stuff from the Tour of Britain. Even when the helicopter passed over something interesting it didn't  zoom in, the commentators hardly mentioned any details of anything historic or interesting on the route.  As the TDF found out it was an excellent showcase for French tourism, but it seems the Tour of Britain folks are not interested in promoting the glories of this wonderful isle, shame on them.

 

The ITV production was pretty poor in comparison to the Tour de Yorkshire it never grab the essence of the race and the thousands of people watching from road side. It went through towns and villagers without even a mention on screen, I dont believe the producers understood nuances of televising a cycle race.  This is where the Tour de Yorkshire wins hands down. Add to that Smashy & Nicey commentators and all together ITV offered a pretty poor package.

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Jetmans Dad | 5 years ago
3 likes

I love watching the Grand Tours. However, I do tend to have the bulk of the stage on as background while I am marking, planning or otherwise doing all the boring paperwork teachers have to do nowadays. 

The last 10-20k though I do pay more attention. 

Editted to add ... I have to confess really enjoying the early stages of the Vuelta this year, as we have holidayed on the Costa Del Sol the last two Springs and it was cool/interesting to see the race winding through roads and villages that were vaguely familiar (complete with some excellent copter shots of Mijas Pueblo village. 

I have never really done the watching Grand Tours for the scenery thing until then. 

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kil0ran | 5 years ago
2 likes

For GTs I almost agree. For a sprint stage the last 5 minutes are enough, for mountains the last climb. The only other compelling viewing is wondering if the break will stay away. But all the same it is wonderfully relaxing and compelling watching them meander through spectacular scenery (Tour of Dubai take note) listening to the commentary. It's a bit like watching the Le Mans 24h race. To the outsider nothing is happening and the race is often decided by half way barring mechanicals but somehow I can stay up all night watching that on Eurosport.

If I was introducing someone to watching cycling I'd start with velodrome and then Flanders and Roubaix for the spectacle, or Strade Bianci perhaps. Certainly not Milan-San Remo or one of those deadly dull transitional sprint stages. Ditto TTs

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dreamlx10 | 5 years ago
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He's been watching Froome and Sky then

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rct replied to dreamlx10 | 5 years ago
2 likes

dreamlx10 wrote:

He's been watching Froome and Sky then

 

Who also managed to give us one of the greatest GT stages of recent years to take win in the Giro (albeit calculated to the nth degree in planning).

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dreamlx10 replied to rct | 5 years ago
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rct wrote:

dreamlx10 wrote:

He's been watching Froome and Sky then

 

(albeit calculated to the nth degree in planning).

AKA a massive puff on the Sky inhaler

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