Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan was born and raised in Žilina, Slovakia, where he and his brother, Juraj, who is eight years older, began racing mountain and cyclocross bikes as young children. Peter won his first World title in the junior cross-country mountain bike race in 2008. The two raced together on the same teams for 13 years, until Juraj retired at the end of the 2022 season having moved to TotalEnergies with Peter the year before.

The younger Sagan has been a dominant force in sprints on the road since he joined the WorldTour in 2010 as a 20-year-old, racking up top results from the one-day Classics to Grand Tours. In his first appearance at Paris-Nice, Sagan took two stage wins and the points jersey and then claimed the points and best young rider awards at the Tour of California, which sealed his Hollywood-style as a fan favourite. Besides animating races, his reputation to animate interviews and social media also grew with his broad smile, humorous quips and outspoken opinions.

Between 2011 and 2019 Sagan’s name was synonymous with sprint success, earning a record seven points classification titles at the Tour de France, along with 12 stage victories during that time. Sagan's record was interrupted in 2017 when he bumped elbows with Mark Cavendish during the sprint on stage 4 in Vittel. Cavendish crashed and the jury ejected Sagan from the race for sparking the incident. 

He has four stage wins from the Vuelta a España and two at the Giro d’Italia, taking both of those in 2021 along with the points classification.

He also put his name in the record books as the winningest individual from the Tour of California, amassing 17 stage wins. With a stage win in 2022 at the Tour de Suisse, Sagan bumped his total victories in that stage race to 18. In the Spring Classics, he has been most prolific at Gent-Wevelgem, winning three times between 2013-2018. During that time he also won the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and GP de Québec twice.

Sagan stamped his authority at the UCI Road World Championships and became the only male cyclist ever to earn three consecutive rainbow-striped jerseys, doing so in 2015, 2016 and 2017. While he made headlines on the road most often, the Slovakian champion demonstrated his versatility on any surface in his career, competing at World Championships in mountain biking, gravel and e-MTB.

The COVID-19 pandemic, a knee injury, and a move from Bora-Hansgrohe to TotalEnergies saw Sagan's star descend, and a stage win and points classification in the 2021 Giro d'Italia was his last major success. Knee surgery knocked Sagan out of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic.

Sagan announced his retirement in 2023.

Key Results

1st overall, UCI Road World Championships 2015-2017

1st Tour de France Points classification 2012-2019

1st Tour de France stages, 12 total between 2012-2019

1st Vuelta a España stages, 3 total in 2011; stage 3 in 2015

1st Giro d’Italia Points classification 2021

1st Giro d’Italia stages, 2 total in 2021

1st overall Tour of California 2015

1st Tour of California stages, 17 total between 2010-2019

1st National Road Race Championships 2011-2015, 2018, 2021, 2022

1st UEC Road European Champion 2016

1st Gent–Wevelgem 2013, 2016, 2018

1st Paris-Roubaix 2018

1st Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 2017

1st Tour of Flanders 2016

1st E3 Harelbeke 2014

1st Brabantse Pijl 2013

2nd Milan – San Remo 2013, 2017
2nd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2016-2017
2nd Strade Bianche 2013-2014
3rd Amstel Gold Race 2012