Peter Sagan Issues Video Apology for Podium Transgression

Yes.

Funny…somehow it’s ok that races have podium girls.

yes David, there is nothing wrong in girls with shorts or tiny skirts and high heels, its absolutely normal and i’m sure all of them know cycling inside and out
it’s not an right attitude, it was at least unthinked of, but now let him be and train and win races, or at least do some manuals on the climbs,

If people forget about this it will be bad for the sport, and for everyone.

People are pathetic! I say good for him taking advantage of the opportunity. Too much politically correct crap!!! As the Eagles song says….GET OVER IT…..

Pete that is funny as hell- hell- next time take a bite.

Let him have his fun.

Glad Peter was reading from the cue card on his 3 sentence apology. He may have not been able to actually communicate. Good thing you can ride the piss out of a bike, Peter. Don’t worry, keep riding and you won’t have to actually have any social ability to communicate =)

Neanderthals, no matter what a girl is wearing, you don’t have license to touch them without their consent. Good on Sagan for apologizing. That apology at least show’s a level of maturity and respect that a few idiots that have commented here will never have.

Hey how about this for a crazy idea……..2 podiums, one for men and one for women……side by side…..with a jointly held presentation and equal TV footage…..no couldn’t happen…creating a context for mutual respect is way too progressive

Wait, if the NBA gets to pointlessly objectify women, we have to jump on that bus, too?

@Psi Squared: That is what is wrong with America this days.

A young man high on his accomplishments, stoked to be living his dreams, high on caffeine, and god knows what else makes a mistake. He is young and at the moment high on life. A fit women leans over and bam a little mistake. An apology to the women that wanted to be objectified is a must. I am WAY over it! AH to be as young as her and and young as him…

It’s only wrong if the woman didn’t think it was funny and the apology should then go to her, not the public…geez.
I’m more upset that he just had to do something to take away from Cancellara’s victory…little brat. You know he was laughing after that apology that he was forced to do. Maybe his team captain and sponsors should apologize for making him apologizes for something we all know he’s not sorry for. Go men!

we should have the Chippendales dudes present Marrianne Vos’ trophy topless. 6’5″ solid 8 packs of abs, copper skin tone, cut and define, and all that jazz….

What if the whole thing is an April Fools joke?

Pete, keep riding like a champ and squeezing asses the same way.

Funny that the majority of comments are by guys. Unwanted touching from anyone is uncalled for, guy or girl. Just because a woman works as a podium girl, doesn’t mean she deserves to get groped by some guy with a probably tiny steroid penis.

That’s like saying if a girl wears a revealing outfit, she deserves to get raped. Way to make the gap between when and women and the sport of cycling grow even farther apart. How are women supposed to be taken seriously if guys just view them as their play things?

That woman could be an amazing athlete herself, but you would never know because some “famous” dick head bike racer grabbed her ass.

Nice red herrings there, Dan.

Meanwhile the podium girl tweeted this: “What happened on Sunday was wrong. I hope this never happens again. But I’m sure it won’t…excuses accepted @petosagan”. Apparently she didn’t asked to be touched and despite what the neanderthal throwbacks here think, she thought it was wrong. That attitudes here what build the foundation for a culture in which sexual imposition, assault, and rape are okay.

He made a mistake. He recognized it. It was dumb. But so is the wacky tradition of podium girls in our sport. Slick Rick, give your holier than though a rest. It was a dumb, spur of the moment action but frankly, given the trophy chick thing at the end of each race, which is just damned silly and could be argued in itself as misogynistic, Sagan’s action is just in line with the whole silly thing.

i’m really quite sure i’ve performed equally stupid acts at that age….not just once mind you. All of you pointing fingers are equally guilty of doing stupid shit. Cheers

@Psi Squared: Oh sure, pinching butt is what makes rape OK. Are you being intentionally dense?

This comment thread is EXACTLY why a dumb mistake like this needs to be called out. Sagan is dumb and macho and he made a poor decision, he should be forgiven.

However; what the mistake represents is the attitude that women are “asking for it” if they choose a given profession, or dress a certain way, or are promiscuous with other men. NONE OF THIS MATTERS. If a woman does not ask for it, she is not “asking for it”. People should generally be respective of each other’s space and this goes double-ly (or triple-ly or quadruple-ly) for advances of a sexual manner.

His acting this way has reinforced the rest of y’all’s completely outdated, ridiculously dumb ideas that sexually harassing someone is ok.

Until today, I had no idea that the majority of Bikerumor’s readership hails from Stuebenville.

Totally agree with Keith @ 6.08.
This situation was blown waaaay out of proportion . Sagan is young, he’s got an expansive ( would not dare to call it “flamboyant ” yet, in a Cipolini-esc way ) personality and he’s a great cycling talent.
Suure, his gesture was not ok, not arguing with that.
But i’m also sure that the blondie didn’t actually suffer any kind of psychological trauma either. Sagan put his hand, the masses limit themselves to eye-groping. What’s the difference ? If women want total equality then why do hostesses keep being employed for auto shows, sport events or even yogurt sampling in supermarktets ?

It would have been disturbing if, per say, Fabian would have done that ( whilst being more mature, married and all that ) .
Otherwise, let the guy have his lesson, as in letting him now that he should be more restrained while in the spot light. Hell, i might even agree if a sponsor would speak his mind within the team’s meetings.

But don’t make it a butthurt feminist drama. That’s just annoying.

Sagan is my new favourite cyclist of all time, I’m just disappointed that he said sorry 😉

OK, reverse the situation. A man decides to go out clubbing and dresses up and is looking good. The man would be totally OK with being randomly groped by another man or by a 400 pound Sasquatch of a woman who happened to be standing close by? After all, the man in question dressed up in nice clothes and took pains to gook good, so he OBVIOUSLY deserves it if anyone he sees decides to grope him at will right? I mean, he was asking for it, right? He should just laugh it off and “get over it”? Unwanted touching is always wrong, all of the time.