As a three-time world champion, the Slovakian clearly has the mental fortitude to win Sunday's race, but following a decline in his once-clinical form over recent years, many have already written him off as Wout Van Aert (Belgium), Mathieu Van der Poel (Netherlands) and Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) steal the headlines. Nonetheless, the fact remains that Sagan cannot be completely discounted on what is ultimately a route that suits his strengths.
We have also featured this bike in our Peter Sagan's bike archive in an overview of all the Slovak's race machines over the years.
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Peter Sagan's S-Works Tarmac SL7(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The bike is the headline product within the Specialized Peter Sagan collection(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
As part of that collection the bike is adorned in a Sagan-brand badge(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It's also joined by a Bora-Hansgrohe sticker - this will be his final World Championships during his tenure at the team(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The Sagan Edition bike is painted with a subtle shimmering gold within the predominantly black paint scheme(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The bike is fitted with a R9170 Shimano Dura-Ace groupset(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Curiously, however, he's using an alloy narrow-wide 14-tooth alloy pulley wheel, which we believe to be from CeramicSpeed(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Despite being a Dura-Ace mech, it's also fitted an Ultegra cage - potentially to provide enough room for that larger pulley wheel(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Gearing choice is unspectacular, with a 53/39 chainset paired with an 11-30 cassette(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
These satellite sprint shifters will aid with shifting on rough cobbles and in the finale(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
His choice of cotton clincher tyres will surprise a few(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
But the deep-section aero wheels are a less unexpected addition(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
His choice of handlebar is the 42cm wide Roval Rapide, an integrated aero bar that houses cables(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Those cables then route beneath the 130mm stem(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
At the front of this stem, a proprietary mount, designed by BarFly, will house Sagan's Wahoo Bolt(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Sagan's saddle is the S-Works Romin Evo(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
And completing the build is the Super Sticky Kush bar tape from Supacaz(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
His tilt at victory will be undertaken aboard this, his Bora-Hansgrohe team-issue Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7. While on the face of things, the bike looks no different from an off-the-shelf model, there is one spec choice of particular note: the derailleur cage and pulley wheels.
Sagan's bike is fitted with a 14-tooth bottom pulley wheel constructed from aluminium, rather than the 11-tooth thermoplastic option that comes standard on Shimano Dura-Ace.
No branding is present on the pulley wheel itself, but based on Sagan's relationship with CeramicSpeed, Cyclingnews believes it to be this 14-tooth alloy option from CeramicSpeed, which are actually designed for 12-speed mountain bike use. What's more, despite using a Dura-Ace Di2 derailleur, the derailleur cage appears to be from Ultegra - noticeable by the small hole at the bottom on the outward-facing side of the cage.
The obvious conclusion is that Sagan believes there's some drivetrain efficiency benefit to be had from using this setup, although a potential alternative solution could be a more simple case of Sagan - or Bora-Hansgrohe - suffering from the parts shortage just like the rest of us. We cannot know for sure.
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The rest of the bike is a little less complex. Shimano's Dura-Ace R9170 groupset supplies the rest of the drivetrain and brakes. This may surprise some, given the recent launch of new Dura-Ace R9200, but the new groupset is, interestingly, still a rare sight in the WorldTour and women's WorldTour pelotons.
Sagan's choice of clinchers is an interesting one given the cobbled nature of the Belgian roads, but the choice of aero wheels - Roval's Rapide CLX - will surprise no one given the speeds at which climbs will be covered.
The bike's paint will be unlike any other in the peloton, as it comes from the 'Peter Sagan Collection' a collaboration between the man himself and Specialized, with whom he's launched five collections in total.
Like his wheels, Sagan's cockpit is as aero as he could get - without breaking sponsor agreements - as he's gone with the recently launched Roval Rapide handlebar, which is held in place with the proprietary Tarmac Stem.
Wrapping the bars is another brand that Sagan has a personal connection to, Supacaz, whose founder is actually the son of Specialized boss Mike Sinyard, and completing the build is yet more of the Specialized brand, in the form of the S-Works Romin Evo saddle.
Tech Specs: Peter Sagan's Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7
Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
