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Peter Sagan to race mountain bike, not road cycling at Rio Olympics

Reigning World champion Peter Sagan will not contest the Olympic road race. Instead, the star cyclist will compete in mountain biking at the Rio Games.

The Slovakian Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that Sagan and mountain biker Martin Haring swapped events for the Rio Games.

Last month, the Slovakian cycling federation requested a second Olympic mountain bike quota spot specifically for Sagan, in addition to the one it earned through results from its regular mountain bikers.

Slovakia still has one mountain bike spot, and it now belongs to Sagan, who has said the Olympic road race course is not to his liking.