News: Busy season ahead for Peter Sagan

Former World Champion and fan favourite, Peter Sagan is waiting to kick off a packed race schedule for 2021. The Slovak rider will first ride the classics, followed by the Giro d’Italia, then the Tour de France and finally the Tokyo Olympics.

News: Busy season ahead for Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan will make his appearance in the Flemish opening weekend this year. The last time Sagan rode the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was in 2017. In recent years, Sagan has always started his season outside of Europe, namely in Argentina (2020) and Australia (2019 and 2018). He also started in the Tour Down Under four years ago, but due to the corona crisis, that event was canceled this year.

In 2017, Sagan was very strong in the opening weekend after his trip Down Under: he came second in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and won in Kuurne the next day. The Slovakian program also includes Milan-San Remo, E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Gent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. In the run-up to his start of the road season, Sagan is organizing three training camps. He is currently in Italy near Lake Garda. After that, camps will follow in Gran Canaria and in the Sierra Nevada.

Peter Sagan’s program was announced by Ján Valach, his fellow countryman at BORA-Hansgrohe and a DS in that team. Last year, the three-time world champion Sagan rode the Tour and made his debut in the Giro. “That was a serious change from the traditional program,” says Valach in Pravda, Slovakia.

“I think he did well. He fought for the green every day in the Tour and continued that in the Giro. He lacked better preparation for the Tour, because in other years he had a fuller schedule before it.”

Although he did fight for the Green jersey in both Grand Tours, Sagan finished the races in second place in both events. However, his sports director thinks that the Slovak is still strong enough to go for an eighth green jersey in the Tour. “He is one of the fastest riders and can also handle demanding stages. Sometimes he also lacked luck. Or they took his Points (in the Tour stage to Poitiers). I still think that is a heavy punishment, but it no longer makes sense to discuss it.”

Whilst Sagan’s DS see’s Sagan riding the Tour and Giro, the only races that are certain in the second half of the season are the Toyko Olympics Games and the World Road Race championships in the heart of Flanders. “The schedule is not sure” says Sagan. “We will see what will happen,” he said. “Now a lot of races are not yet scheduled. We will see how we are going to manage this year. It will take some time to program everything and to plan.”

“I have a schedule from now until the classics. After that, we will have to see what I’m going to do and we will see. We will decide. It’s a very important year with the Olympic Games and the World Championships which could be good.”

Sagan will turn 31 at the end of January, but Valach still sees room for improvement with his rider. “Mainly in the classics, we have already talked about that several times. He is now at the ideal age for this. In any case, they will be his main target in the coming seasons. Of course, it is also important that he retains his mental energy and that he enjoys it anyway. He is a fighter and he can still take victories, especially in the Classics and also in the bunch sprints – if the situation is optimal for that.”

Sagan’s contract expires at the end of this season, but Valach does not want to anticipate a possible departure from BORA-hansgrohe. “We have no pressure, these are matters for the managers. Peter focuses on his training and performance in competitions. A change of shift? I don’t want to speculate about that. We feel good here.”