Peter Sagan retired from road racing last year, but not from cycling, with the ultimate goal of participating in the Mountain Bike Olympic Games events. He will not, after a year that has gone very far from what was planned.
Sagan had an incredibly successful career on the road and after two seasons with TotalEnergies, he decided to bring to an end his professional season on the road at the end of 2023, leaving behind a legacy including record-breaking seven green jerseys at the Tour de France, three consecutive World Championship titles, victories at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix; and plenty other high-quality wins that, alongside his popularity, made him the rider of a generation.
He wanted to challenge himself in mountain biking, a discipline where he had thrived before he turned professional on the road back in 2010. In 2016 he raced the MTB XCO Olympic event, finishing 36th. Last season he raced the World Championships off-road and finished 37th in the Short Track (XCC) event and 63rd n the XCO race.
Sagan entered 2024 with the sole goal of racing the event in Paris, representing Slovakia. He raced a few events early in the year, and recently on the road the Tour de Hongrie where he was a headliner at the start. But in none did he achieve meaningful results. He travelled to Nové Mesto this weekend to race the World Cup event but ended up not doing so.
The Top19 nations in terms of UCI points have at least one spot secured for the Olympic Games race but Slovakia was a very distant 35th, with neither Sagan or any of his compatriots leaving a big mark in the international scene. There were still positions available outside of those countries such as continental champions, under-23 World Champions and the best-placed riders in the UCI ranks that did not feature in any of the nations already mentioned. But Sagan did not fit any of the lists, and so will not be racing this summer in Paris as expected, bringing to an end a difficult quest.
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