Peter Sagan to undergo health checks, doubtful for Paris-Roubaix

The spring’s not getting much brighter for Peter Sagan.

The Slovak megastar is a likely non-starter for next weekend’s Paris-Roubaix as medics scramble to unpick medical problems that left him fatigued and flat-lining in recent weeks.

“Peter is not well lately, his legs hurt a lot and he struggles to cope with the great efforts,” Sagan’s long-time press officer and confidante Gabriele Uboldi told Tuttobici.com on Friday. “But in reality, that is nothing new compared to the last month. He is always exhausted, and after the races he is very sleepy.”

Sagan was hit with a second bout of COVID this winter, setting the tone on a spring that saw him abandon Tirreno-Adriatico with illness, DNF at Gent-Wevelgem, and abandon a planned start at Tour of Flanders last weekend.

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A mid-race abandon at Circuit de la Sarthe this week cranked the crisis to the point that Sagan is to undergo a battery of medical checks and will likely be on the sidelines for next weekend’s Roubaix, a race he won in 2018.

“I have been working with him for nine years and I have never seen him retire from a race except for some bad fall,” Uboldi said. “At the moment we do not know how his season will continue, he has the Paris-Roubaix scheduled but personally, I think it is difficult that he can be at the start in good condition,”

Sagan was slated for a starring role at a reconfigured TotalEnergies squad this season but has so far failed to hit the mark. Instead, Anthony Turgis and Dries van Gestel have given sponsors some succor with podium-placings at Milan-San Remo and Gent-Wevelgem.

The clock is ticking fast – maybe too fast – for Sagan to shine in Roubaix.

After that, Sagan’s next top target is the Tour de France. TotalEnergies has three months to unpick the puzzle.

“There is certainly something wrong because Peter is never like this, even when he is out of condition,” Uboldi said.