Peter Sagan had heart surgery on Friday after doctors determined that he had a heart abnormality that caused his heart rate to spike above 200 beats per minute during a mountain bike race in Valencia.
“He had the arrhythmia during the race and we just want to control it,” said a Sagan spokesperson, according to GCN.
Sagan, 34, was diagnosed with ‘anomalous tachycardia with a high ventricular response,’ according to the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. To correct the condition, the three-time World Champion on the road would undergo a heart procedure—ablation.
“The procedure was carried out by Professor Antonio Dello Russo - Director of the Cardiology and Arrhythmology Clinic of the Marche University Hospital - and by his team, with the presence of Dr. Roberto Corsetti - the athlete’s trusted cardiologist,” according to a post on Sagan’s Instagram page.
The post explained that an “internal electrophysiological study was carried out, which excluded any supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmia of pathological significance.” A subcutaneous event recorder, used to detect arrhythmia, was implanted into the seven-time Tour de France Green Jersey rider.
When Sagan’s post confirmed that he’s ‘fine’ and plans to be back on his mountain bike in a few days.
This news comes only weeks after Sagan made his official mountain bike debut with the Specialized Factory Racing team. He hung up his road cleats last year. This procedure comes at a critical time as Sagan aims to qualify for a spot in the Summer Olympics, and he’s slated to race at the UCI World Cup in April.
In his first race, the HERO Abu Dhabi Hudayriyat Island, Sagan placed 24th, and in his second race, the event in which the arrhythmia was discovered, he placed 49th out of 64 racers.
“He will stay off the bike for between five to eight days and that’s just to recover from the little surgery. So our plan is to race in Marseille in 20 days,” said Sagan’s spokesperson, according to GCN.
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