Peter Sagan: Riders 'live like we're in a prison' due to anti-doping rules

A succession of doping scandals in the early 2000s made the German public highly sceptical of professional cycling, but with his move to the German Bora-Hansgrohe team, Peter Sagan has sought to explain how things have changed.

"What has happened, has happened. Now there is a new generation. We live like we're in prison," Sagan told Sportschau.de.

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"We must always indicate our whereabouts. The doping controls can go anywhere. The cycling is now very clean.

"I was lucky and have come into a clean cycling. The fact that many young cyclists have the chance today to win shows that one can not do these things any more."

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The world champion also spoke about how the cleaner image that cycling is now bringing in sponsors from outside the sport, such as with his own sponsors Bora, a manufacturer of extractor fans, and Hansgrohe, a manufacturer of taps and showers.

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"In the past we had either national money in cycling - as with Astana or Katusha - or bicycle manufacturers sponsoring teams."

"Bora-Hansgrohe demonstrates how things are changing. Companies with money are coming to cycling because they are able to market their products."