¡Adiós!

[Mayomaniac]

Spilak climbing on a world class level in horrible weather was always one of the highlights of the spring for me. I remember him staying with Froome and beating him in a sprint in Romandie on the mountain stages in 2013/2014, when Froome put a minute into every other contender on those stages. His gc wins in the Tour de Swiss were also pretty good, him dropping everyone else on the Tiefenbachferner was a great performance.
I kinda regret the fact that I've never opened a Thread for him, in this day and age every flavour of the month seems to get his own.
An interesting fact about him: as a neopro he was actually really good on the cobbles, he finished 9th in the RVV at the age of 21, in his first Monument. Before that he had finished 5th on the gc in De Panne, ahead of his team captain Ballan.
I will miss him, even if he was already past his prime.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Moreno Moser retired at 28.

https://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/12-05-2019/ciclismo-moreno-moser-si-ritira-non-mi-sento-piu-competitivo-3301547050936.shtml

I only just noticed this. What went wrong for this guy?

 

[Red Rick]

Laurens ten Dam is riding his last race in Il Lombardia today.

Never much of a winner, but always a colorful figure. He has adventurous plans going forward

https://nos.nl/artikel/2305779-weinig-gewonnen-veel-genoten-en-nu-gaat-lau-roadtrippen.html

 

[Sestriere]

The final stage of the 2015 Tour de Suisse was probably one of the most exciting TTs I ever watched. Spilak, Dumoulin, Pinot and Thomas fighting for the overall. The best TT of Simon's carreer secured him the victory.

 

[DNP-Old]

I only just noticed this. What went wrong for this guy?

Clinic reasons me thinks.

 

[RedheadDane]

Clinic reasons me thinks.

Or suffered from the Surname Syndrome…

 

[RedheadDane]

Slightly old news but I only saw it today

Patrick Müller is retiring because of a long-term leg pain problem. Shame. He's only 23, and he was showing a lot of promise this year despite the issue (won Volta Limburg, 4th in Circuit de la Sarthe)

He got to ride - and finish - Lombardia as his last race.
Saw some social media posts about it; everyone seemed so sad about it, a clear case of "I want to keep doing this, but I just can't." (Bit like with Tanguy Turgis last year…)

 

[TMP402]

Plaza retires aged 39 after Il Lombardia

Spaniard won stages at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España during 19-year career

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[GP Blanco]

Taylor Phinney will retire after the Japan Cup. Such a shame his career was severly hampered by his horror crash.

 

[tobydawq]

I think Jasha Sütterlin just announced his retirement on Instagram but his message is not very easy to interpret.

 

[F_Cance]

No, he is going to Sunweb

 

[tobydawq]

Thanks, it was the "sporty development" part and him thanking "friends and family" that threw me off.

 

[Bolder]

Taylor Phinney will retire after the Japan Cup. Such a shame his career was severly hampered by his horror crash.

I agree. He was a beast before the crash and to come back from injuries of that scope was incredible. It seems to have really altered his perspective, probably in a good way. Before the crash I'm sure he felt like he was under a lot of pressure to succeed given his parents.

 

[Pantani_lives]

So Lau's final race was also Bau's biggest win.

 

[Leinster]

I agree. He was a beast before the crash and to come back from injuries of that scope was incredible. It seems to have really altered his perspective, probably in a good way. Before the crash I'm sure he felt like he was under a lot of pressure to succeed given his parents.

I don’t think anyone who’s ever watched an interview with Taylor has imagined that he ever feels any pressure to do anything by anyone.

 

[Koronin]

It's amazing Phinney was even able to come back after that horrific crash. I'm not sure it's really surprising he's retiring now.

 

[RedheadDane]

It's amazing Phinney was even able to come back after that horrific crash.

I agree. And I'm glad he was able to make it back. Now, stopping is his choice, as opposed to being something he was forced to do because of an injury.
It's the same reason I'm not super sad Kittel stopped; again, his choice.
It's the same reason I'm glad Adrien Costa stopped before he had that accident (and I know I'm not the only one).

And then there are the situations where I know, and understand, that the rider in question is devastated, but it could have been so much worse! Take a look at Edo Maas; his career is essentially over before it's even started, same for Tanguy Turgis. However, they're both alive. Edo Maas was hit by a car and survived, Andreas Byskov Sarbo wasn't so lucky. Tanguy Turgis discovered a heart problem in time and is still alive, Michael Goolearts and Jimmy Duquennoy weren't so lucky. Still, those young kids are perfectly entitled to be devastated.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Nocentini confirms retirement | Cyclingnews

 

[tobydawq]

Multiple monument winner and projected Tour winner Stijn Devolder calls it a day.

That will make Valverde the oldest rider in professional (WT and PCT) cycling next year.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Multiple monument winner and projected Tour winner Stijn Devolder calls it a day.

That will make Valverde the oldest rider in professional (WT and PCT) cycling next year.

I thought Rebellin had signed for that Hungarian team that was aiming for ProConti?

I mean realistically speaking Valverde will still be the oldest rider in top level cycling, but nevertheless.

 

[tobydawq]

I thought Rebellin had signed for that Hungarian team that was aiming for ProConti?

I mean realistically speaking Valverde will still be the oldest rider in top level cycling, but nevertheless.

But it sounds like that team will not amount to anything after all.

 

[Chris Gadsden]

Multiple monument winner and projected Tour winner Stijn Devolder calls it a day.

That will make Valverde the oldest rider in professional (WT and PCT) cycling next year.

There's a guy who really benefited from riding in the same team as Boonen.

 

[Leinster]

So Valverde will be the oldest rider signed to a WT team. Possibly WT or Conti level.

 

[Koronin]

Thus meaning Valverde is going to be the oldest rider in most if not all the races he goes to next year (or really for the rest of his career).

 

[Bolder]

Peter Stetina leaves WT to ride gravel etc. Glad there's another route available, as it were, for him. He wasn't quite good enough to win at the WT level (and had a bad, bad crash), but if he can put together a living off the road, chapeau!