Due to a knee injury suffered during the Tour de France, cycling icon Peter Sagan will miss the Tokyo Games. The injury required surgical intervention to clear an infection in his right knee caused by a racing accident.
Cycling star Peter Sagan will miss the Tokyo Olympics due to a knee injury he fetched up during the Tour De France. Peter had undergone surgery to treat an infection in his right knee that occurred following a crash at the Tour de France race.
The Slovak Cycling Federation confirmed that Sagan's recovery timeline won't align with the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Although the infection stayed clear of the knee joint, the necessity of the surgery—which took place near his residence in Monaco—and his current health status prevent him from participating.
With three World road race championships and seven Tour de France titles, Peter Sagan is one of the most celebrated figures in the sport. However, despite his professional dominance, he has yet to secure an Olympic medal.
Sagan's Olympic track record includes a 34th-place finish in the 2012 London road race and a 35th-place finish in the 2016 Rio mountain bike event. In Rio, he opted for mountain biking over the road race, but his medal hopes were crushed by a punctured tire. Everyone expected the sport's most decorated rider to finally hit the podium in Tokyo, but this injury has ruined those plans.
Sagan was slated to represent Slovakia alongside Juraj Sagan in the road race starting in 11 days. However, the Slovak Olympic Committee has announced that Lukas Kubis will take his place in the Tokyo lineup.
The injury occurred during the third stage of the Tour de France, when a high-speed collision with Caleb Ewan caused Sagan to crash. His knee took a hard hit from the bike's chainring, resulting in a deep laceration. Despite ten days of treatment with antibiotic creams, the infection worsened, making it impossible for him to continue racing.
Sagan's career highlights include his first World Tour stage victory during the 2010 Paris-Nice. He also made history as the first Slovak cyclist to win a Monument classic, claiming victory at the 2016 Tour of Flanders.
During the 2016 Tour de Suisse, Sagan secured his twelfth stage win, breaking the record previously held by Hugo Koblet and Ferdinand Kubler. He further cemented his legacy in 2019 by winning the Tour de France points classification for a record seventh time, and he recently added a points classification win at the Giro d’Italia to his resume.