"I reached the breaking point three years ago" - Honest Peter Sagan admits he's ready to leave road cycling
Cycling
It comes as no surprise that Peter Sagan does not carry the same flame nowadays as he did throughout the 2010's, but in a brutally honest interview he admits that he's ready to turn the page on his cycling career and that he's at peace with it.
"I'm lucky I haven't crashed yet. But I've been better in the Tour before. I'll keep going, another week, and I'll see what I can still change here. The Tour is not over yet," Sagan told Het Laatste Nieuws. "If I didn't ride the Tour, I wouldn't be part of cycling right now. I'll stop when the time is right. At the moment I have to ride the Tour. That goes for all the other races I've already driven this year."
The former World Champion has been at the very top of the sport, a true rockstar, symbol of the Tour de France, three-time World champion and much more. Over the past few years with the emergence of a new generation and the natural progression fading, the Slovakian has found himself in a very different position. The 33-year old has a contract with TotalEnergies until 2024 but he has said that most likely next season he will only be preparing for the Mountain Bike Olympic Race.
“We are all different people, we race for different reasons. I am grateful for what I have achieved in my career. I feel that I have achieved incredible results, I have sacrificed a lot for this. Many people helped me with that. But to keep sacrificing myself year after year, I can't do that anymore," he states. "Because what will that change? It's time to turn the page."
Sagan has achieved almost everything he could as a rider of his type in pro cycling, regardless of how good form he found now, only a Tour de France victory or perhaps a Milano-Sanremo (which has eluded his palmarès) triumph could spark back his career. However that's unlikely to be the case, however Sagan admits that he is at peace with it, having continued in the peloton over the past few years as he feared having regrets if he retired too early.
“I reached the breaking point three years ago. But then I was too good to quit. Then I would have been sorry. Now I'm at peace with myself. When I was 18, I was glad I didn't have to go to school anymore. I didn't want to go back. Now I'm 33 and I don't want to return to cycling either. I enjoyed it, but it's enough," he concludes.
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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