Peter Sagan retires from the final Paris-Roubaix race with concussion.

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Peter Sagan retires from the final Paris-Roubaix race with concussion.

Peter Sagan (Total Energy) was forced to abandon the final Paris-Roubaix race after suffering a concussion from a head impact in an early crash.

Peter Sagan, the 2018 champion, crashed in the second of 29 cobbled sectors after 100 km.

On the fast part of the three-star sector between Wiesly and Kievy, a crash occurred about 30 riders from the front of the pack, sending him over the handlebars.

Sagan lay on the grass beside the cobblestones and took a long time to get up. Sagan's team confirmed that Sagan had gotten into his team car and announced that he would not be participating in the race.

"Peter Sagan's race is over," was the brief statement released by Total Energies at the time, updated after the race.

"Encouraging news about Peter Sagan. He was the victim of a crash and has sustained wounds and concussion. The test results at the hospital were reassuring. We hope he can rest now."

Sagan won the 2018 Paris-Roubaix with a ferocious attack that pulled away from his rivals, one by one from the breakaway group, and finished in a two-up sprint with the last survivor Sylvain Dirier on the Roubaix velodrome.

Sagan has struggled in recent years to regain his former strength and has positioned his 2023 campaign as his final road race. However, Sagan has so far abandoned two monuments won in two days.

His abstention in Roubaix followed a group crash by Filip Macejuk at last week's Tour de Flanders.

It was a nightmare day for Total Energy, which also lost Daniel Oss and Maciek Bodnar after a failed breakaway.

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