Once upon a time, Peter Sagan had his face plastered across the front of magazines, newspapers, websites and social media as one of the most dominant riders and eccentric personalities. Now that his road career has faded, Sagan is preparing for the next chapter, racing mountain bike cross country with an eye on the Paris Olympic Games.
Sagan confirmed to Cyclingnews he would race with the Specialized Factory Racing team in 2024 after finishing a distant 63rd behind gold medalist Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) at the UCI MTB World Championships in Scotland on Saturday.
Sagan was still winning when he left Bora-Hansgrohe for TotalEnergies, bringing with him his long-time equipment sponsor Specialized. After two unfruitful years with the French team, he has decided to give up the road and race full-time off-road.
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His appearance at the MTB World Championships was the first step towards returning to his roots. A junior world champion in the discipline in 2008, he soon transitioned to road, winning the Tour de France points classification seven times and 12 stages plus the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the UCI Road World Championships three years in a row.
Sagan's appearance at the MTB Worlds was blighted by controversy after the UCI stepped in and promoted him and Mathieu van der Poel to the fifth row, ahead of season-long mountain bike racers with UCI points.
Sagan said it didn't help him. "In my case, no, because I finished bad but for sure for Pidcock it was good I think. It's always good to start in the front," he said, adding that he didn't know of the decision until he was called up to the grid. "When they called me on the start line I went, I didn't do anything to ask to go in the third or fourth line."
With the Paris Olympic Games still in the distant future, he faces an uphill battle to earn enough points to qualify a spot for Slovakia. The country is 37th in the UCI nations rankings and only the top 19 nations earn a start.
While Pidcock said he would continue to race in the UCI MTB World Cup at the end of August in Andorra, Sagan said he would have to finish his road season before transitioning full-time to MTB.
"I have to still finish on the road this year with Team TotalEnergies. We'll see after for next season. I have to do Plouay (the Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France on September 3), and in the middle of September I have another race, and finish with the last race in Vendee (Tour de Vendée on October 1) in France."
