Vuelta a San Juan organisers have announced that Peter Sagan will make his debut with Team TotalEnergies at the Argentinian stage race that will return in 2022 and be contested between January 30-February 6.
2020 winner Remco Evenepoel is also expected to return to the race to kick-off his 2022 season, with La Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that Filippo Ganna and new Ineos Grenadiers teammate Elia Viviani will also make their season debut in the race. An Italian national team is also likely to take part.
The 2.Pro race was cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic but will add an eighth day of racing next year. The Vuelta a San Juan, will continue as the lead-off event on the America Tour road calendar and mark the season debut for a number of high-profile riders.
Prior to the 2021 cancellation, race organisers had confirmed that Peter Sagan would ride, along with Chris Froome and João Almeida. Four or five high-profile riders are likely to headline the race, with other WorldTour teams travelling to South America in the absence of the Tour Down Under in Australia.
The Vuelta a San Juan first took place in 1982 and stepped up to become a UCI 2.1 race in 2017, which began the appeal for WorldTour teams. The event formed part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020, which was won by Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) ahead of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
Sagan rode the Vuelta a San Juan in 2019 and 2020, racking up top ten results on five stages at each outing, including second place on stage 2 in San Juan in 2020 and on stage 4 in 2019. Sagan will perhaps celebrate his 32nd birthday at the race, which falls on January 26th, four days before the opening stage.
Full details of the race route are expected to be revealed shortly.
