End of an era: Peter Sagan has truly begun his final race in the shadow of the Tour

Before the Tour of Slovakia, Sagan announced that he would be in action in his home country for a few more days before he permanently hangs up his bike. "This will be my last official road race, and I don’t think there could be a better place to close this chapter of my career than my home country."

"I look forward to an exciting race with Pierre Baguette, a team for promising Slovak and Czech young riders," Sagan continues. "Above all, I can't wait to meet the great Slovak fans once again and thank them for their support all those years, since the start of my career," says the man who stood at the pinnacle of the cycling world for many years.

The team time trial on day one was won by Jayco AlUla, which finished 25 seconds ahead of Soudal Quick-Step's Julian Alaphilippe in the 29-kilometer opening. Anders Foldager, Callum Scotson, Max Walscheid, Felix Engelhardt and newly crowned Swiss champion Mauro Schmid have thus positioned themselves well to compete for the overall classification win, but Alaphilippe and his team are not ready to concede just yet.