Peter Sagan, the Slovak champion cyclist about to compete in his last Tour de France, has been given a three-month suspended jail sentence by Monaco Criminal Court.
The offence took place on May 12, in Fontvieille, the court was told.
A surprising aspect of the case was the time of day, shortly before lunch.
Three-time world champion Sagan was noticed by two police officers. “It was 11:35 a.m.when the police noticed the risky, even dangerous behaviour of a driver behind the handlebars of his motorised vehicle,… The driver was trying to park in a space reserved for two-wheelers. The officers approached and very quickly noticed the signs of the scooter driver’s drunkenness.”
When Sagan was breathalysed, the result showed him to be seriously over the limit. Sagan was then brought to a police station for a more precise test. This blood alcohol analysis showed his level of intoxication to be 1.46 mg / l, several times above the permitted level, local French-language daily Monaco Matin reported.
Through his lawyer, Sagan told the court that he had been partying until 03:00 and had gone to bed for just a few hours. The court president asked if the cyclist had gone to bed or fallen into a coma because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed.
His defence lawyer asked for a fine to be imposed, but the president said that because of his income a fine would not be appropriate. In addition to the three-month suspended sentence, the Monaco resident was banned from driving for three months.
In November 2021 Sagan was fined 5,000 euros in Monaco after assaulting a policeman during the coronavirus lockdown in April of that year.
PHOTO: Slovakia’s favourite sportsman, Peter Sagan
