The 32 year old Slovakian has announced that he intends to take to the start line of the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships to race the electric mountain bike competition. Peter Sagan returned from the Tour de France empty handed after coming back from a torrid and disrupted start to his 2022 road race campaign due to a third bout of Covid.
Sagan, a three-time road world champion, who is widely regarded as a great all-round cyclist and one of the world's most powerful riders, will return to Europe after a brief training camp at altitude before the e-MTB competition starts on August 26th. It sounds like Sagan is looking forward to the event. ‘It will be a party,’ he said when chatting to La Gazzetta Dello Sport earlier this week.
After beginning his career in XC racing, the TotalEnergies racer is still known for slipping off his road shoes and going back to his roots in dirt. He has competed in cyclocross events in the past and in June he took on the grit of the 100-mile Unbound Gravel race in Kansas.
With 13 Tour de France stage wins to his name and topping the green jersey points competition on seven occasions, there is no denying the man has serious talent. Talking to La Gazzetta, the Specialized rider played down his chances suggesting that he is entering more to appease his sponsors. “I won’t be able to be competitive and I’m not going for that.” However, we're sure that given his form and the opportunity this summer, Sagan will look to add another rainbow jersey in a different discipline to his already huge list of accolades.
The Mountain Bike World Championships take place between August 24th to 28th, with the e-MTB races alongside the Olympic Cross-Country and Relay Cross-Country (XCO and XCR), the Short Track Cross Country (XCC) and the Downhill events.
