Peter Sagan explains the injury that saw him abandon the Tour de France 2021

The seven-time points jersey winner crashed on stage three and never fully recovered

Peter Sagan after crashing on stage three of the Tour de France 2021
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Peter Sagan has revealed he had to abandon the Tour de France 2021 due to an infection to a cut in his knee which he picked up in a crash on stage three of the race.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider battled through the first week and part of the second before having to step off the bike before the start of stage 12, which was won by his team-mate, Nils Politt. 

In an Instagram post, Sagan explained his injury: "On stage three, the chainring hit my knee and entered the skin above the patella, leaving a deep wound. We cleaned the wound as much as possible to prevent infection because of the dirt from the chain oil."

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Sagan came down with Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) who had to abandoned due to a broken collarbone.

"However, after a few days, an inflammation developed in the bursa on top of the patella, and, unfortunately, antibiotic treatment couldn’t prevent an infection," continued Sagan. 

"The only option was to stop racing at the Tour de France and get the bursa surgically removed."

Fortunately for Sagan, the infection did not involve the joint in the knee and doctors were able to perform surgery on the wound at very short notice in Monaco. The three-time world champion thanked the medical staff as well as his team and his fans.

The bursa is a fluid-filled cushion in the knee, elbow, shoulder and hip. Sagan was suffering from bursitis which is is a painful condition that occurs when the bursae become inflamed.

"I'm feeling well right now and in a couple of days, I'll be able to train again on my rollers. If all goes well, I'll be riding my bike on the road very soon."

Sagan told the press, just before he left the race, that he will now focus on the Olympic Games road race, an event he did not ride in Rio back in 2016 due to him focusing on the cross-country mountain bike race instead.

It is also rumoured that the Slovakian superstar will be leaving Bora-Hansgrohe and it is only a matter of time until it is announced he has signed for the French second division team, Team TotalEnergies.

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.