Peter Sagan dismisses the notion that his move to the Total Energies Pro Team is a step toward retirement and harbors ambitions to compete in the Spring Classic and the rest of the 2022 season in his new colors.

The three-time world champion turns 32 on January 26 and is entering her 13th season at the World Tour level. Beulah Hansgrohe chose to let go of Sagan and instead invested in a younger player. Sagan and his agent, Giovanni Lombardi, were not afraid to look for a replacement and joined forces with TotalEnergies team manager Jean-René Bernadeau, adding major sponsors Sportful and Specialized to the team, as well as his brother Juraj, Daniel Oss, and Maciej Bodnar as key staff members.

Sagan has had two trying seasons as the sport and the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic. He won two stages at the Giro d'Italia and took the points jersey at the 2021 Corsa Rosa, but struggled in the classics. On stage 3 of the Tour de France, he was caught in a crash by Caleb Yuan (Lotto-Soudal) and eventually left the race before stage 12.

He contracted COVID-19 for the second time and is now quarantined at his home in Monaco.

Still, he is stoic. When the French newspaper L'Equipe asked him if he was hurt by being told that Total Energy might be his "place of retirement," he insisted that he had not retired yet.

"I don't care what other people think. If I cared about everything people said, it would be very destructive. I'm not afraid of not winning," Sagan told L'Equipe, insisting that he is not afraid of not winning as he once was.

"I don't think much about it," he said. It's true we only won once in 2020, but that was a special year with the Covid pandemic."

"Since I started racing, I've learned that success will come if you stay focused, so I'm not afraid. Of course you need the will to get it done, but I have that. Of course, it takes motivation, but I have that."

"It was long before that, in 2015, that I decided to stop. I overtrained before the season started and I couldn't take it anymore. But I took care of myself and got back into shape. Stage wins at the Tour of California, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, green jersey at the Tour, World Championships ...... And now I am still here."

Sagan tested positive for COVID-19 while preparing to head to the Total Energies training camp in Spain. He will be quarantined until at least Monday and must undergo a medical check before joining his new teammates.

He was scheduled to debut in the colors of Total Energies at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina, but the race was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak; in 2022, Sagan will probably race more in France, replacing Tirreno - Adriatico with Paris 〜˜Nice will be his choice, but his goal remains the same.

"I don't know yet where I will start the season. I am not in good shape and my recovery will be delayed. It depends on my physical condition. But my goal is the Spring Classic.

"My goals this season are not only personal. The team has recruited me to participate in the World Tour and to get points. We already have a good group with Anthony Turgis, Nicky Terpstra, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Adrien Petit, and me and my longtime teammate Os, Bodnar, so I think we will do very well in the Flanders Classic. "

Sagan created his own team of riders and staff within Total Energy, but insisted that it was not his only clique, although French was not his strong suit.

"I didn't feel anything negative at the first gathering. I felt welcome and it was a family atmosphere," Sagan claimed.

"Jean-René Bernadeau always had a smile on his face and his team seemed to me as well. He talks about results, of course, but above all he talks about joy. And that has been my state of mind since the beginning of my career.

"Of course I have a responsibility and I accept it. But it's easier to be on a team that smiles than on a team that complains."