The current season will be Peter Sagan's last as a purely World Tour road rider, with the Slovakian confirming he would retire once he concludes his racing campaign in 2024. The 33-year-old, who is retiring relatively young, has been at the top of the sport since his first big pro win, at a stage in Paris-Nice, in 2010 aged 20 years.
His experience of Covid-19, which he contracted several times in recent seasons, had helped him make up his mind to decide this year would be his last as a road racer, but promised he had "new projects" planned in cycling.
While he is still fully committed to his road career this year, including riding the Tour de France, Sagan said he would continue competing next year because he wanted to ride the MTB race at the Paris Olympics. As such, next year would be about racing MTB as he prepared - and qualified - for the Games.
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And while there would still be some road racing next season, MTB would be his main focus, saying he wanted to compete in Paris as a personal goal rather than for anyone else. He began his career with Slovakian Continental team Dukla Trencin-Merida as a teenager way back in 2009.
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He moved to the World Tour with Liquigas-Doimo in 2010 and rode for that squad, in its various guises, until the end of the 2014 season. There followed two seasons at Tinkoff-Saxo, followed by five seasons at Bora-hansgrohe. He is currently in the second year of a three-year deal with French team TotalEnergies.
“The time has come to let everyone know this is my final year on road bikes as a professional,” Sagan said last evening on a rest day press conference at Vuelta San Juan in Argentina. “I will stay with TotalEnergies and I’d like to focus more on qualifying for the mountain bike Olympics.”
His decision to pivot to MTB, and away from road racing, was made some time ago, with his recent difficult seasons - when his form was undermined by Covid-19 - helping him make up his mind.
“This is not my goodbye,” Sagan said. “I will embark on a new adventure, and everyone will still see me again in new projects.”
