Bookies back Peter Sagan to win unprecedented Milan-San Remo/Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix treble
Triple world champion tipped to win another unprecedented treble
Back in September Peter Sagan became the first man to take three World Championship title in succession, and the Slovak is now being tipped to make history with another unprecedented treble.
Despite only having one Monument victory to his name, Sagan is being touted by the bookies as the favourite for Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix.
Sagan picked up one victory and three more top fives as he made his season debut at the Tour Down Under last month, with this strong early season form meaning that the Slovakian is already being tipped to take glory in the spring.
The world champion finished second behind Michal Kwiatkowski at Milan-San Remo in 2017 having also finished second behind Gerard Ciolek in 2013. However the bookies seem to think that Sagan will be able to go one better this year, putting him as the 11/4 favourite ahead of Quick-Step Floors' Fernando Gaviria at 7/1 and defending champion Kwiatkowski at 10/1.
The Tour of Flanders is the only one of the three races that Sagan has won in the past, so it's no surprise that he is the strongest favourite for this race, with some bookies offering odds as shot as 5/2 ahead of Greg Van Avermaet at 3/1 and Philippe Gilbert at 10/1.
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Finally Paris-Roubaix might not be a race where Sagan has enjoyed much luck in the past, suffering punctures and shifting issues to put him out of contention in previous years, but that isn't stopping the bookies from tipping him as the favourite.
There Sagan is tipped by some bookies as the 13/5 favourite, while defending champion Van Avermaet is generally around 4/1 and another former winner, John Degenkolb, at 9/1.
Riders have won two of the three races in the same year on 16 separate occasions, the most recent example being Fabian Cancellara's Flanders/Roubaix double in 2013.
Sagan will skip the upcoming cobbled double-header of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this weekend, instead starting his European season at Strade Bianche on March 3, before riding Tirreno-Adriatico in preparation for Milan-San Remo.
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Henry Robertshaw began his time at Cycling Weekly working with the tech team, writing reviews, buying guides and appearing in videos advising on how to dress for the seasons. He later moved over to the news team, where his work focused on the professional peloton as well as legislation and provision for cycling. He's since moved his career in a new direction, with a role at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
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