The Slovak Peter Saganthree-time world road champion, will not achieve his goal of competing in the mountain bike event at the Paris Olympics after taking 35th place on Sunday in the third round of the specialty World Cup in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic).
A top 19 finish was needed to secure at least an Olympic quota and Slovakia will therefore be unable to send MTB cyclists to Paris this summer, ruling out the seven-time winner of the Tour de France green jersey.
The only option to include Sagan in the Olympic Games is for some countries in the universality rate, countries like Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Monaco, San Marino, to give up their place, a complicated possibility.
Sagan (Zilina, 34 years old), who is currently in the Pierre Baguette team, recently suffered two heart operations that prevented him from attending the qualifying events. At the 2016 Rio Games, he competed in mountain biking, placing 35th after suffering two punctures.
Source: La Verdad
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