Peter Sagan will step away from WorldTour road racing at the end of the season.
Speaking at a press conference in San Juan last evening, the Slovenian rider confirmed that he would not compete in WorldTour races after this season, but instead will focus on the mountain bike event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“I would like to say the moment has arrived,” Sagan said. “I decided I would like to finish this season as a rider in WorldTour races. I would like to prepare for the Olympic Games in mountain bike.”
Sagan boasts 12 stage wins at the Tour de France, where he has won the points classification a record seven times. He’s also claimed two stages in the Giro d’Italia and four in the Vuelta a Espana.
However, it’s one-day races where he has arguably enjoyed his biggest success, winning the world road race title three years in-a-row between 2015 and 2017, while he also counts wins at the Tour of Flanders (2016) and Paris-Roubaix (2018) on a bulging palmarès.
“Time goes by. When I was 19 I remember I always had the idea to retire when I was 30. I’m 33 now,” Sagan told the media at the press conference.
“I want to end my career with my real passion: mountain bike.”
Sagan, whose deal at TotalEnergies expires at the end of the year, will now chase a last hurrah in the Spring Classics and Tour de France.
“Now that I’ve revealed that it’s my last year I’m even more motivated,” Sagan continued.
“I haven’t lost the motivation of winning. These are other priorities in life. I’ve made many sacrifices and it has cost me a lot with my family. I want to spend more time with my son.”
“I always said I would like to finish my career on the mountain bike, because I started my career on the mountain bike,” Sagan added. “It gives me some pleasure at the end of my career because I’m doing something I really enjoy.”
“It’s important for me to spend time with my son Marlon and to see life from different angles, and not just as a cyclist. It was never my dream to race or to be a professional rider until 40 or 50. I think it’s time now. And if I am going to be able to finish my career in Paris at the Olympics Games, that’s going to be something nice for me.”
Sagan also indicated that he could continue to ride under the TotalEnergies banner as a mountain biker in 2024, and that he might ride occasional non-WorldTour road event.
“I think all my fans and the people deserved to know now that it was going to be my last year on the road. They need to know. That’s why I made the announcement in San Juan,” Sagan said. “But if I do mountain bike next year, I could still come here to race maybe with the national team or the TotalEnergies team.”
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