After a successful classics campaign, UCI World Road Race Champion Peter Sagan is looking to blow the cobwebs off his mountain biking skills. Sagan will make a brief return to off-road racing in Austria and the Czech Republic in his build up to the Amgen Tour of California next month.

Sagan, already a World Champion in the discipline as a junior in 2008, will race two mountain bike events, in Austria and the Czech Republic, in Tinkoff colours and aboard a Specialized S-Works Epic following his break after the classics campaign. Well known for his technical ability on any type of bike, Sagan will be hoping to pick up from where he left off a few years ago, with strong off-road performances before concentrating again on his road career.

“It’s going to be good fun returning to my roots, racing mountain bikes again and I look forward to seeing what shape I will be in at those races,” said Sagan when asked about what he expected. “I’m pleased with how my season has gone so far. My victories at Gent-Wevelgem and Ronde van Vlaanderen take the pressure off now, so I hope that I can go off-road and be able to compete at the front, like I do on the road. I’d like to thank the team and our sponsors for helping me make this opportunity possible.”

“Peter has shown this spring what a star he is on the road and with the public, so to have this opportunity to take this to mountain bike fans too will be really nice,” commented Stefano Feltrin, General Manager of Tinkoff, on Sagan’s return to the roots. “It’s a good opportunity for Tinkoff to race its colours and showcase its partners in another discipline and we have every confidence in Peter that he will take the racing seriously and perform to his best, even if these races are just part of his build to the all-important goals for the rest of the season.”