Peter Sagan is perhaps an unlikely ambassador for the growing cycling esports platform MyWhoosh, which will host the fourth Cycling Esports World Championships on Saturday, but the Slovakian three-time world road race champion is on the ground in Abu Dhabi for the event and says he's looking forward to watching the race.
In an era of multi-discipline superstars such as Tadej Pogačar, Marianne Vos, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, Sagan was arguably one of the first.
His career was predominantly on the road, but he was never shy about his preference for mountain biking and regularly stepped onto the dirt in training. He even forewent the 2016 Olympics Road Race to try and win cross-country gold, and he stopped road racing in 2023 to focus on Cross Country Olympic qualification at Paris 2024.
Despite a World Championship title on the cards, neither Sagan nor any of the other multi-disciplinarians have been drawn to esports. The only rider on the start list in either the men's or women's finals with WorldTour experience is Jason Osborne, former Alpecin-Deceuninck pro who started as a rower, won the inaugural esports world championship men's title, earned a pro contract as a result, then returned to esports. Two women's WorldTour riders were given wildcard invites, but for reasons unknown, declined to attend.
Living in Monaco, Sagan rarely has the need to ride indoors, unlike others further north where winter hits hard, or further south such as in Abu Dhabi where summer hits even harder. He admits he's never entered an online race, instead preferring to joyride.
"I'm more curious about how they made the roads and the virtual world, the scenery and stuff. But I ride with people, and now in this period, I don't really want to race."
Sagan is one of the most decorated road cyclists of all time, and undoubtedly a high-profile ambassador for the Abu Dhabi brand. But when asked if he's tempted to extend his career with a foray into virtual racing, the seven-time green jersey winner at the Tour de France was quick to say no.
"I don't see myself, anymore, wanting to compete in cycling. I can say my stories and my experience, what I have in cycling, I already raced enough."
Sagan fills his days now by riding with friends, fulfilling sponsor obligations, and spending time with his seven-year-old son, Marlon, with whom he recently attended a monster truck show instead of watching the world championships road race where Tadej Pogačar soloed to victory from 100km out.
Just last week he was in Ibiza, and his next few weeks include a trip to Asia, with stops in Korea, Taiwan and China as a special guest at events with Specialized.
He says the travel "kills the legs", but it's much easier now than when he was a pro, where the focus was always on performance.
What's stopping him from racing, however, as much as the new lifestyle he's built, is the mindset that he no longer wants the pressure.
"I don't want to be compared anymore with something," he explained when asked if he was tempted to race the esports world championships next year. "I can race for fun, with friends, with people when I want to, when I join a ride. That's something, but not like this when you have to put a number on."
"I don't want it to be that I have to prepare for something. If I want to be the best in the world again, I have to stop with everything I've built and focus on training again. Otherwise, there is no point. Just to race in the World Championships, and this is what, for 50th place?
"I know that the guys are training a lot and they are good. I'm not interested in competing with them, because I know they are strong."
Over and above the power required to keep up, esports has various nuances that enable riders to race well without simply being a test of who can push the pedals the hardest. Like in real-world cycling, there are tactics that enable weaker riders to win. Those who take the time to learn the platform and know how to play the game, rather than simply relying on brute force, can still get a result.
Sagan compares it to motor racing games, recalling the Nissan GT Academy which turned the best racers from the PlayStation game Gran Turismo into real-world racing drivers, and the online Formula One races that took place during the pandemic.
"In the pandemic, they did the races with the drivers and the gamers, and who won the races on the computer? It was all gamers, not the real drivers from Formula One.
"You also need to train on that [platform]," he continued, bringing the topic back to cycling. "It's a skill to learn, how to save energy. If you just jump in and you don't know how it works, you are totally new, it's not going to help you manage to ride in the peloton, and have good movement."
Despite this, the Slovakian still appreciates the similarities between road cycling and cycling esports. He appreciates the role indoor cycling has in the wider cycling landscape, and how the two can complement each other.
"There are eSports specialists, but it's going to be much easier to jump from professional cycling to esports than for esports [riders] to jump into the peloton. In the end, you [still] have to pedal the bike. If [a rider] wants to keep condition, it is possible to ride outside and also to ride inside. And you can have much more fun on a smart trainer with platforms like MyWhoosh than just to pedal with an empty wall."
With the lack of WorldTour representation at the Cycling Esports World Championships in Abu Dhabi, it's a fair question to ask whether the cycling world takes indoor cycling seriously as a sport. You can argue Osborne certainly does, quitting a WorldTour career to focus on MyWhoosh's Sunday Race Club, which boasts big prize money - undoubtedly enough to pay a wage for anyone talented enough to be competitive. But is he the only one?
While Sagan isn't interested in vying for the title, he argues that any sport with an opportunity to win is important.
"It's like if it's important to win Paris Roubaix. For me, it was important because it was a race that I always committed to. But it doesn't have to be important for some climbers.
"It depends on your thinking, what you want to achieve. If somebody pushes you like you have to do it, then it's not important for you. But if somebody decides in themself that they want to win this thing, then it is important.
"Every sport where you can win is important if you decide to do it."
