Peter Sagan to miss Northern Classics to make debut at Giro d’Italia

Bora-Hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk confirmed Slovakian media reports about Peter Sagan season: the highest paid rider in the peloton will concentrate on hunting his eighth Tour de France points jersey before making his Giro d’Italia debut two weeks after the Tour wraps up in Paris.

Riding the Giro not only means will he miss Paris-Roubaix for the first time since 2013 and the Tour of Flanders for the first time since 2010, but he’ll also bypass La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Amstel Gold Race and Gent-Wevelgem, the last of which he’s won three times. Sagan will forego the August 1 Strade Bianche re-opener, but he’ll race his 10th Milan-San Remo the following week.

Sagan’s Tour de France aspirations will run concurrently with those of teammate Emanuel Buchmann, who wants to trade his fourth place last season for a spot on the podium.

Germany-based Bora-Hansgrohe has grown in the strength over the last few seasons with talent like Buchmann, Felix Grossschartner, Max Schachmann and Pascal Ackermann. This season Irish rocket Sam Bennett left the squad after six years for Deceuninck-Quick Step. Denk recently quashed rumours that Bora was one of the teams interested in Chris Froome.

Men’s Revamped WorldTour with World Championships

August 1: Strade Bianche
August 5-9: Tour de Pologne
August 8: Milan-San Remo
August 15: Il Lombardia
August 12-16: Critérium du Dauphiné
August 16: Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic
August 25: Bretagne Classic–Ouest-France
August 29-September 20: Tour de France
September 7-14: Tirreno-Adriatico
September 11: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
September 13: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
SEPTEMBER 20: UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ELITE MEN TT
SEPTEMBER 27: UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ELITE MEN RR
September 29-October 3: BinckBank Tour
September 30: La Flèche Wallonne
October 3-25: Giro d’Italia
October 4: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
October 10: Amstel Gold Race
October 11: Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields
October 14: Dwars door Vlaanderen
October 18: Tour of Flanders
October 20–November 8: Vuelta a España
October 21: Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne
October 25: Paris-Roubaix
November 5-10: Gree–Tour of Guangxi