The organisers of the Volta a Catalunya WorldTour stage race announced on Monday that Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) would make his debut appearance in the Spanish event. The seven-stage race is scheduled for March 22-28, overlapping with the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and Gent-Wevelgem in the final weekend, indicating that Sagan would miss both races, which are usually staples on his calendar.
Sagan has made the Belgian Classics his playground, winning the E3 Prijs in 2014 and twice landing on the podium as runner-up (2013, 2016) and has won Gent-Wevelgem three times (2013, 2016, 2018) in addition to three other podium finishes.
The three-time world champion's season was originally planned to be a busy one, with a second appearance at the Giro d'Italia, another trip to the Tour de France for a crack at an eighth green jersey, the Olympic Games and World Championships all major goals.
But a crash during training and then a positive COVID-19 results while at a camp in Gran Canaria disrupted his build-up to the racing season. He missed the Opening Weekend (Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne) and skipped Strade Bianche after recovering from the virus, making his debut in Tirreno-Adriatico last week, where he looked to gain form for the Classics.
Sagan is due to compete in Milan-San Remo this Saturday before heading to Spain for the Volta a Catalunya before tackling the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
He missed the two cobbled Classics in the revised 2020 season when the races overlapped with the Giro d'Italia in late October. Sagan competed in the Giro for the first time after the late-summer Tour de France.
