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The treacherousness of mountain biking proves to be too much for Peter Sagan

Road world champion suffers two flats and drops out of contention after a flying start

August 21, 2016
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RELATED: Schurter takes men’s mountain biking gold in Rio

Peter Sagan’s quest for an Olympic medal looked promising with a flying start in the men’s mountain bike race. The Slovakian world road race champion went from the last starting position to third on course in the first minutes of the seven-lap race.

Sagan, who made the surprise decision to skip the road race in favour of racing the cross-country mountain bike race in Rio, put himself in an amazing position to once again silence his critics. But after a flying start where he was able to move up on the wide road, Sagan suffered a puncture as the riders hit the rocks.

https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/767387473274081280

The mountain bike course was treacherous with numerous riders suffering flats and crashes. Yesterday, the women raced the same course but in dry conditions. After rain turned the man-made course to slippery mud, Sagan was one of many to suffer.

After puncturing, Sagan was forced to slowly ride to the tech zone. He quickly moved from third to 20th on course. He then suffered another flat shown being forced to run sections of the course at the mid-way point of the race.

Sagan is recognized as one of the best bike handlers in the professional road peloton and was world junior cross country mountain bike champion but his foray back into mountain biking was did not go smoothly ending in disappointment. Sagan would be pulled with one lap to go as Nino Schurter rode to Olympic gold.