{"id":678799,"date":"2026-07-07T16:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T16:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/678799\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T16:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T16:24:18","slug":"peter-sagan-i-was-proud-to-be-cyclings-rockstar-but-was-ready-to-retire-i-love-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/678799\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Sagan: \u2018I was proud to be cycling\u2019s rockstar \u2013 but was ready to retire. I love it\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are five riders older than Peter Sagan competing in the 2026 Tour de France. There\u2019s even a 35-year-old debutant, New Zealander Aaron Gate, but Sagan, for a decade one of the Tour\u2019s star attractions and headline names, is not racing. He quit the sport two years ago and has no regrets about his decision to retire at an age \u2014 34 \u2014 that some perceived as early.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask me a lot: \u2018Why did you stop?\u2019,\u201d the Slovakian tells The Athletic three days out from the Tour, where he\u2019s in Barcelona for an event with his longtime sponsor Sportful. \u201cI say to them: \u2018Living in this world for 14 years wasn\u2019t enough?\u2019 You can\u2019t do it forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw the moment that I was going to be a domestique (helper) for someone, I said: \u2018It\u2019s my life. I don\u2019t want to ride for someone and to pull the sprint for them. It\u2019s not my style\u2019. I said: \u2018It\u2019s enough\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a sterling career Sagan drew the curtain on. A record seven green jerseys in the Tour, three successive road World Championships, and wins in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. There were 12 Tour stage victories, four in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, and 18 in the Tour de Suisse. All in all, he was victorious as a pro 121 times. He is an eternal great.<\/p>\n

He was much more than a bike rider. His long, wavy hair in his mid-20s was more reminiscent of a guitarist in a rock band, he tried his hand at acting in promo videos, while he would wheelie up Alpine climbs and bunny hop to avoid crashes \u2014 or simply because he was bored.<\/p>\n

In a sport where media shyness is the norm, Sagan stood out for being different. He was an icon for many, a fan favourite to most, and Slovakia\u2019s biggest representative on the international stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud of having the nickname \u2018The Rockstar\u2019 because nobody else was called that in cycling before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But all of that attention came with its drawbacks. Pressure, fame and fatigue took its toll.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

\n Sagan\u2019s style in his 2010s heyday was different to most cyclists (Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hanging his racing wheels up wasn\u2019t a hard decision for Sagan. The wins began to dry up post-Covid \u2014 though there were two stage victories and a points jersey at the Giro d\u2019Italia \u2014 and a 2022 move to French team TotalEnergies from Bora-hansgrohe failed to reverse a (relative) late-career malaise.<\/p>\n

He was just done with being a professional athlete. \u201cI was tired of it and I wanted to stop. It was easy,\u201d he states.<\/p>\n

Unlike many of his peers, though, he didn\u2019t find the transition to normal life difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of professional athletes stop and they don\u2019t know what to do. They find themselves in a black hole,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard because you\u2019ve been doing a sport since you were seven or 15, and you\u2019ve always been in a routine. And then afterwards, when you have nothing to do, it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me, it wasn\u2019t like that because I had a plan of what to do and this reputation as the rockstar of the peloton has helped me with what I\u2019m doing now with my sponsors. I\u2019m even busier now than when I was a rider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sagan has several ambassadorial roles: he has a long-time partnership with American bike brand Specialized, pops up during cycling coverage\u2019s advert breaks riding an indoor bike for MyWhoosh, and recently, he launched his own non-alcoholic beer with Slovakia\u2019s biggest brewery, Zlat\u00fd Ba\u017eant.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s found plenty of time for other activities, not least partaking in a primetime dance show in Slovakia last spring, eventually getting knocked out in the semi-finals with his dance partner Eli\u0161ka Len\u010de\u0161ov\u00e1.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Sagan on \u2018Let\u2019s Dance\u2019 in 2025 (Photo: Peter Sagan)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very nice experience,\u201d he says of appearing on Let\u2019s Dance. \u201cI have to say thanks to my (dance) partner because my dancing maybe looked better on television than it was in real life. She saw how I was dancing at the start and tried different methods to make me better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were training all kinds of dancing \u2014 classic, Latin American, cha-cha-cha \u2014 from January to March just to learn the basics. Then, during Let\u2019s Dance, we had a week to learn a (specific) dance and the choreography, spending eight hours a day in the dance room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did it give him a similar buzz to the one he had as a professional athlete? \u201cEven more. I did cycling for years and I knew what to do, but dance was really something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Sagan took to dancing perhaps wasn\u2019t a surprise. The most-watched video on his Facebook page is of him doing the splits in 2017, with his legs stretched out to the side and his bottom resting on the floor. It\u2019s flexibility that is more associated with gymnasts, not cyclists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of hard work behind that. I could do it now as I have some methods of stretching to do it, but I\u2019d be f\u2014ed up for two weeks!\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

His appearance on Let\u2019s Dance reasserted him as Slovakia\u2019s darling; the son they\u2019re most proud of. But being his country\u2019s most famous man is a burden he wears heavily \u2014 even if he\u2019s spent most of his adult life living in Monaco, four countries and 700 miles from the Slovakian border.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc9aA record 7-time winner of the Green Jersey, 3-time Road World Champion, but @petosagan<\/a> is so much more than statistics. To the rockstar of our peloton, we say goodbye. Thank you for the memories across these years,
\ud83d\ude4f \u010eakujem Peter
\u2070
\ud83d\udc9aRecordman du nombre de maillots verts,\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/BjfRQ1PZzF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tour de France\u2122 (@LeTour) October 1, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go training, every amateur cyclist can see you, take your wheel and join your train. You can\u2019t tell them to leave you alone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an issue Tadej Poga\u010dar, Sagan\u2019s successor as cycling\u2019s rockstar<\/a> and reigning world champion, has voiced, even turning to a black kit during training rides to make himself less recognisable.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven at races when you\u2019re sleeping in a hotel, you have to go outside to eat in the kitchen truck and people are waiting for you. It\u2019s intense,\u201d Sagan says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s annoying but it\u2019s part of the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could be an arsehole and say: \u2018No, people\u2019 but I\u2019ve thought about it a lot and I know that they are fans, they are living for that, they are cheering for you, and they\u2019re giving you something \u2013 energy. You have to give them something, some of your time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escaping his adoring fans, though, became a matter of necessity. At the start of many seasons, he would often take himself to the U.S. on a training camp, favouring the Rockies over the Alps and Pyrenees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really worked for me when I went to Park City, Aspen or Boulder on altitude camps,\u201d he says. \u201cJust me and a bunch of friends who prepared food. I\u2019d go without the team, not under the control of anybody. I knew what to do and I just did it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was where I found peace because nobody knew me. I left Europe, was in a different time zone so nobody called me, and it was peaceful. I was only thinking about what to eat and how to train. It was perfect for preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most altitude camps are synonymous with riders experiencing crippling boredom, but not Sagan\u2019s U.S. adventures.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery evening it was like, \u2018What do we do tonight?\u2019 Go to the cinema? Nice. Go to the shooting range and try all the guns they have? Nice. That was fun. Recovery day? Let\u2019s go down to Salt Lake City and go shopping. We went there and nobody stopped me, nobody took a picture of me or asked for something. It was relaxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were the moments during my cycling career that I loved the most during the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

His close entourage, typically numbering six people, included his racing brother Juraj and Italian Daniel Oss, who with his long hair and love of bass guitar could\u00a0 pass off as a genuine rockstar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI created a good bunch of people and we had a good time in the races as well,\u201d Sagan says. \u201cIt was necessary because if I didn\u2019t have my group I was going to burnout and finish my career even earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figuring out early on what he needed to be successful formed the backbone of his longevity in the sport. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the individual mindset,\u201d he says, once again speaking philosophically; it\u2019s clear he\u2019s a deeper thinker than his occasional comical antics and short race-interview answers often portrayed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to change the world, but you have to be somebody who is strong, who has self trust and self belief, and who doesn\u2019t only want to be a sheep. You have to be the one navigating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to do a job, I need this, this and this, and I believe that when I have that and when I\u2019m relaxed and have fun I\u2019m going to make it. If you\u2019re under stress, you can make it for a year or two but afterwards, you\u2019re going to be burned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

\n Sagan won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in his storied career (Bryn Lennon\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Sagan was at the start of this year\u2019s Tour and will return later in the race for two sponsorship events. But he doesn\u2019t really follow cycling too much \u2014 evidenced by picking the absent Jonathan Milan as his favourite for the green jersey.<\/p>\n

He prefers to ride his electric mountain bike (he\u2019s got faded cycling tan lines), go to the gym (his already broad shoulders are even broader) and hike in the mountains.<\/p>\n

But when he was competing at the Tour, he was The Terminator. His repertoire of skills \u2014 a fast finish combined with an ability to get over even medium-sized climbs \u2014 meant he was a possible contender in roughly half of the stages. He was always in with a shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first Tour de France I did in (2012), I enjoyed the most because nobody had expectations of me and I didn\u2019t have any either,\u201d he says. \u201cI was just happy to be in the Tour de France, the biggest race in the world that I\u2019d always dreamed of riding, and it was great: three stage wins and the green jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the second time I went, I was remembering what happened the first time, and it wasn\u2019t the same. It\u2019s always easy to win the first time but afterwards, it\u2019s harder to keep going and win for a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh time. Staying at the top for many years is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

He managed it, though. From 2013 to 2019, he won the green jersey every year, except in 2017 when he was thrown out of the race for dangerous riding on stage four after crashing with Mark Cavendish. \u201cIf they didn\u2019t exclude me, it could have been eight but who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what the best 10 minutes of his career were, he laughs: \u201cMaybe I have to say when I finished the Tour de France for the last time and I said no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the other side of life at the top. It becomes a chore.<\/p>\n

His son Marlon, now aged eight, had seen his father battered and bruised too many times. \u201cWhen he was five years old, I returned home from a race all broken and he was like: \u2018What happened to you?\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I\u2019d crashed in the race. \u2018Do you want to do cycling?\u2019 I asked him. \u2018No, no, father, I don\u2019t want to finish like you,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not to say it was a bad life, though. Financially, Sagan is set for life. And his name is permanently etched in cycling\u2019s history books.<\/p>\n

But he reverts to a theme. \u201cI stopped at the right moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

\n The incident with Mark Cavendish in the 2017 Tour which saw Sagan disqualified from the race (Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When he allows himself to \u2014 and sponsorship events especially force reflection upon him \u2014 he can look back on a golden career. \u201cLiquigas (his first team) was the first step for me, a good school, and when I left (in 2015, when it had been renamed Cannondale), it was a very nice opportunity to ride for Tinkoff-Saxo. I had my best years there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Tinkoff, the diamonds were already created and we just had to sharpen them. After Tinkoff, I left for Bora-hansgrohe (in 2017) and we built a good base. They trusted me and I brought a lot of people from Tinkoff to Bora.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now Red Bull and I\u2019m proud \u2014 it\u2019s also a pleasure \u2014 that we were the step to developing and improving Bora-hangsrohe. They learned from us.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy plan after Bora-hansgrohe was to do the same thing with TotalEnergies but after (two years), I said enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

His most cherished victories, he says, were his trio of World Championship titles. He\u2019s the only male cyclist in the history of the sport to ever win three successive rainbow bands. \u201cAll three were different stories and all three were very special,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were amazing for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, to have the green jersey is a big deal, so to have it seven times in the race, holding it for three weeks, was amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cParis-Roubaix also. I won Flanders on its 100th anniversary with the World Championships jersey. To drop (Fabian) Cancellara, who was second, was amazing for me. They were all amazing moments, all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The many jerseys and trophies are at home, and the memories will never fade, but that chapter has been written. Sagan is now writing a new one, a more private one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to spend better time with my son than when I was a rider,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause when I was home during my career, I\u2019d be doing five or six hours on the bike and afterwards I was so tired that I couldn\u2019t go out with him to play something because I had to recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I can enjoy my time with him much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his sponsorship commitments regularly remind him, though, the rockstar who lit up the Tour de France every summer will never escape the spotlight entirely.<\/p>\n