Peter Sagan is rarely forthcoming in interviews, but was at his most evasive during a group call with journalists to discuss his 2021 schedule. Sagan faces a succession of Bora-hansgrohe training camps before making his 2021 debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on the final weekend of February.
Sagan will then compete in the major classics from Milan San Remo through to Paris-Roubaix, but after that, his calendar is a big question mark according to him.
"It’s not sure. Like I said, after the Classics, we’ll see what is going to happen," said Sagan. "Now a lot of races are cancelled. We will see how we are going to manage this year. I think we still need some time to plan everything."
Sagan said that he would prefer to go to the Tour de France over the Olympics if the two clashed, as they well might with a rumoured two-week quarantine period for athletes entering Japan to apply universally.
"If we have to decide now, for sure I’m going for the green jersey again," said Sagan. "But nobody knows what’s going to happen. We might have to be in Japan two weeks before, but with a vaccination there could be different rules, we still don’t know. We will see what’s going to happen in the next five months."
Sagan also sidestepped questions about potentially sharing a Tour de France with Pascal Ackermann, and his future for beyond 2021, with his contract to come due at the end of the season.
However, the previous day, Bora-hansgrohe team director Jan Valach had laid out Sagan's season in more detail with an interview in Slovakian outlet Pravda.
"We start with the spring classics, followed by the Giro, the Tour, the Olympics… these are the highlights," said Valach. "Peter is the type of rider who can withstand more load, benefit from it, it doesn't tire him and he gets better and better."
Valach suggested that Sagan could continue riding into his forties and still take top results, despite a comparatively poor 2020 season, that saw him just take a single victory, Stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia.
"Of course, it will be important how he retains his mental energy, or whether he enjoys it anyway," said Valach. "He is a fighter and can still claim victories, especially in the classic stages, but also in the sprint stages, if the situation is optimal in the end."
Sagan is currently training with his Bora-Hangrohe teammates at Lake Garda, and afterwards will travel to a smaller training camp in the Canary Islands.
