Arguably considered as a greatest talent of his generation, but despite his mere 24 years of age increasingly criticized for now having won any major cycling monument yet, Peter Sagan plays down the pressure ahead of the Ronde van Vlaanderen today.

The Cannondale leader is considered one of the greatest favorites to excel on the Flemish hilly parcours today alongside Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and Tom Boonen (or Niki Terpstra, more likely? Omega Pharma-Quick Step either way), but the 24-year old Slovak refuses to accept such amount of pressure by downplaying his own expectations towards today’s race, not to restricting the range of potential winner to only those three riders.

"It’s too many people making pressure here because it’s a big race, but I try to take the race like fun," Sagan said. "In these important races, that’s a bit difficult, but it depends. It’s a race like another one, no?"

Sagan and his Cannondale team met a harsh criticism after they failed to live up to expectations in season’s first monument, Milano-Sanremo. However, the 24-year old Slovak bounced back in style by outfoxing the Omega Pharma-Quick Step duo of Terpstra and Vendenbergh in E3 Harelbeke and claimed to be unconcerned by facing huge expectations again in the Ronde van Vlaanderen today.

"It’s not my problem. I want to do well, but after that, I don’t know my future," Sagan said. "Maybe I can try for ten years to win this race and never win it. I don’t know my destiny."

Asked about Cancellara, Sagan testily emphasized that particular results obtained in races cannot always be treated as a pure testament of riders’ current disposition and that’s exactly a case of the Swiss’ impressive come back in the E3 Harelbeke last week.

"What do you think? He is always strong, but this analysing is not very good because his condition and performance at Harelbeke is more important than his result there," he said, adding: "In Milan-San Remo last year I was second and now I’m not strong because I was 10th this year?"

"I don’t know if I’m stronger or not. We will see. For now, I feel good and that’s important, but I don’t want to make any predictions."

While Boonen admitted that Sagan has more cards to play as he can count on his sprinting skills in the finale, the Cannondale leader was rather reluctant to admit he would opt for playing a waiting game in today’s cobbled monument.

"Will I attack? It depends."

Both Cancellara and Boonen emphasized the importance of their huge experience in regards to negotiating hilly Flemish parcours, including sharing five Ronde van Vlaandered titles, and Sagan  - having three appearances in the event under his belt, agreed it could be an important factor in their rivalry today.

"When you come here the first time, it’s almost impossible to win but now I’m here for the fourth time. I was 5th one year, then 2nd and I think I can do well this year," he said. "I don’t have the same experience as Boonen because he grew up here. That [experience] is important, but how you feel is also important, no?"

The 23-year old Slovak also knowingly noted that this years route is harder that last year’s edition, just as organizers intended, and all the important action should come down to the last 50 kilometers.

"We will see how the race is on Sunday but I think it’s harder. There’s not as much time to recover between the climbs. For sure, the last 50 kilometres are hard but we’ll see what the other riders do. If we go fast, then it will be hard," he said.