Peter Sagan to miss Tour of Flanders after struggling in Classics as Geoffrey Soupe steps in for TotalEnergies

Peter Sagan will miss this season's Tour of Flanders after struggling for form in the Classics. Sagan, who won the event in 2016, tested positive for Covid-19 in January, the second time he has contracted the virus.

He failed to finish Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem race, finished 68th in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and struggled to make an impact at last week's Milan-San Remo. Ad/> While he managed a fourth-place finish in the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, he was forced to abandon the race with a stomach bug.

Cycling'Total anarchy' — Sagan accuses younger generation of 'lacking respect'02/03/2022 AT 15:53 The Slovakian will be replaced at the Tour of Flanders starting line by TotalEnergies teammate Geoffrey Soupe, who is thought to be better placed to help teammate Anthony Turgis. TotalEnergies have said that they will test the rider to try and discover any underlying causes for his lack of physical ability in 2022.

He will now race the Circuit de la Sarthe ahead of the Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Roubaix later this season. He will not race in Wednesday's Dwars door Vlaanderen, and has instead returned home.