Peter Sagan retires from mountain biking

The three-time world champion Peter Sagan left road cycling in 2023 to finish his career in mountain biking, the discipline where he started. But his health problems have not allowed him to perform as expected, and he has just put an end to his life as a professional cyclist in mountain biking as well.

Peter Sagan ends his career in MTB: "Today was an emotional day for me"

When Peter Sagan announced his retirement from professional road cycling in 2023, he had a plan to switch to mountain biking and try to compete in the Paris Olympics. To do this, he had the difficult task of earning enough points in a few months to qualify and he got to work with a demanding schedule alongside the Specialized Factory Racing team.

But a major setback occurred when at the beginning of 2024 Sagan detected an arrhythmia, during a competition in Chelva, which required him to undergo surgery. He didn't give up, recovered, and tried again, but his heart problems persisted and he had to undergo surgery a second time. He soon realized that qualifying for the Olympics was now impossible.

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Now Peter Sagan has announced his definitive retirement from mountain biking and he did so by competing in the Slovak National Championship where he finished second behind Matej Ulik:

Today was an emotional day for me. ... I was back in my country, not on its roads this time, but on the beautiful trails of Košice for the MTB National Championship. Competing at home, feeling the love and support of the fans, and seeing them cheer was truly incredible. Thank you. I would like to express my gratitude to all who have supported me, from the first time I rode a mountain bike, to this last official race.

Peter Sagan began to stand out in mountain biking with a fourth place in the U23 World Championships in Canberra in 2009, the first World Championship won by Nino Schurter, but his career was short-lived in terms of results due to his transition to road cycling, where he has achieved his great successes.