Peter Sagan has again shown off his downhill mountain bike skills, posting a video on social media of a high-speed run, seemingly at the Vallnord – Pal Arinsal skiing and mountain bike in Andorra.
The two-minute video captures Sagan descending at speed behind another rider on a twisting trail that includes a number of jumps and technical sections.
Sagan, a former silver medalist in the 2008 Junior world cyclocross championships and one of the best bike handlers in the WorldTour peloton, took the descent with ease, even enjoying a number of bike whips during jumps.
Sagan has posted similar videos during summer training camps in the USA. He opted to ride the cross country mountain bike race at the 2016 Rio Olympics but a series of punctures wrecked his race.
“A different way of training on my bike that I enjoy a lot!” Sagan wrote, presenting his two-minute, high-speed downhill run on Twitter. “Thanks to Luca Leonardi for following me and filming me!”
Leonardi is a Catalan-based mountain bike instructor and influencer who managed to follow Sagan’s every move on the high-speed descent.
A week before, Sagan posted a photo of himself taking flight off a ramp that also appears to be in the Vallnord – Pal Arinsal Wood Park.
“MTB training session in Andorra. Enjoying a lot!” he wrote.
The Bora-Hansgrohe rider has not raced on the road since leaving the Tour de France before stage 12 after a knee injury he suffered in a crash with Caleb Ewan on stage 2 became infected. He was forced to undergo minor surgery after an inflammation developed in the bursa on top of the patella and also missed the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Sagan has kept a low profile as he recovered from injury, only confirming his move from Bora-Hansgrohe to the TotalEnergies ProTeam for 2022-2023.
TotalEnergies team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau told Sagan he likes his riders to ‘have fun’ during training and racing.
Sagan appears to have followed Bernaudeau’s philosophy by enjoying a high-speed downhill run, perhaps during a recovery day during an altitude training camp.
Sagan is expected to soon return to racing to prepare for the European Road Race Championships in Trento, Italy on September 12, the World Championships in Flanders on September 26 and then the rescheduled edition of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday October 3.
