After Navardauskas, Rebellin and Henao, I sense a trend in the air....
Adam Hansen too.
Right, I know this is maybe a strange guy to focus on, but I'm very interested in the stories of riders, and this guy definitely has a story. And reading about his story made me notice that he had sort of... stealth retired, or been retired by circumstances.
Justin Jules:
Officially, he retired after last season, but I guess you could argue that realistically he's been retired since the beginning of 2020, his last race being that year's Saudi Tour... which he crashed out of.
Then with the pandemic, and greatly reduced calender I suppose it was only natural that DELKO - a team that probably didn't get a whole lot of starts - chose to prioritise their younger riders.
Finally, when the team folded, I guess other teams weren't exactly falling over themselves to sign a 35-year-old guy, who hadn't race for almost two years.
So, we ended up with a situation that probably happens multiple times every year: A rider being unable to find a team, thus deciding - maybe based on age - to simply retire.