¡Adiós!

[YavorD]

That's a bit bittersweet. Just after he got his biggest win.. I still remember his emotion in Roubaix.
On the bright side though, he'll be able to enjoy the rest of his life.
Good luck in future, Sonny.

 

[RedheadDane]

Van der Poel retires

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Van der Poel retires

David I assume?

 

[RedheadDane]

David I assume?

I'm not saying I deliberately posted it like this to see if I could shock people.
I'm also not saying that I didn't!

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

I'm not saying I deliberately posted it like this to see if I could shock people.
I'm also not saying that I didn't!

I found a one-day old article in which he contemplates retiring but says he hasn't decided anything yet.

 

[RedheadDane]

I found a one-day old article in which he contemplates retiring but says he hasn't decided anything yet.

I came across an article in Danish, then I googled, and found the article linked-to in my post above.

 

[Escarabajo]

Can someone tell me what happened to Ilnur Zakarin? why is he retiring now? or maybe 33 years is enough. But maybe he started later his cycling career and didn't feel like he lasted what he should have.

https://www.revistamundociclistico.com/2022/ilustres-ciclistas-que-se-despiden-de-la-elite-ciclistica-internacional/

 

[RedheadDane]

Can someone tell me what happened to Ilnur Zakarin? why is he retiring now? or maybe 33 years is enough. But maybe he started later his cycling career and didn't feel like he lasted what he should have.

https://www.revistamundociclistico.com/2022/ilustres-ciclistas-que-se-despiden-de-la-elite-ciclistica-internacional/

Here's an article about his initial decision to retire at the end of the season:

Ilnur Zakarin will retire at end of 2022 - VeloNews.com

And here's one about his decision - Gazprom related - to quit mid-season:

Ilnur Zakarin calls it quits: 'I'm ready to move on' - VeloNews.com

 

[RedheadDane]

So, Cyril Lemoine is set to retire on April 10th. However, I have a suspicion it might happen a bit earlier than planned...

Cyril Lemoine (procyclingstats.com)

And yes, I'm pretty sure it's April 10th, not October 4th. PCS has their entire list of retirees listed using the weird US dating formula. Besides it would make sense if his last - planned/hoped-for - race was PR.

 

[Ricco']

Pierre Rolland ends his professional career.

 

[Bolder]

Pierre Rolland ends his professional career.

Solid career with some really big results in big races. He was great in the 2011 tour. Seemed like he really liked riding a bike.

 

[staubsauger]

Rolland was 4th at the Giro d'Italia. I think he actually is an overachiever due to the fact that he always raced aggressively and created chances. Could've ridden anonymously for 9th place on gc instead. But he played his cards very well. Especially in 2011 & 2014.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Rolland was 4th at the Giro d'Italia. I think he actually is an overachiever due to the fact that he always raced aggressively and created chances. Could've ridden anonymously for 9th place on gc instead. But he played his cards very well. Especially in 2011 & 2014.

Frome what I understand about the way he trained and the opportunities he took, he was not an overachiever

 

[Anderis]

Yeah, weird to call him overachiever. The expectations after TdF2011 were so high for him.

 

[staubsauger]

Frome what I understand about the way he trained and the opportunities he took, he was not an overachiever

Wasn't that just Vaughthers typical bragging around? Which eventually was nonsense as Rolland didn't improve at all with his super modern science training scheme.

 

[Roku]

Yeah, weird to call him overachiever. The expectations after TdF2011 were so high for him.

Finishing 4th on Giro seems too much for him. However, it was a very weird edition with some questionable outcomes (Val Martello).

Apart from that, I think his resume is quite on line with what you could expect from Rolland (a fringe 2nd Tier climber with a penchant for breaks -rather than hunting low key Top-10- and very poor TT skills).

He managed to take iconic wins on TdF (Alpe D'Huez, Toussuire), a couple of low Top-10 on TdF, and even a Giro stage on his early declining years.

(I thought i had send this post, but apparently stayed as draft)

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Vanbilsen retires. He cites injuries and operations as the main reasons.
He's happy with what he achieved citing his combativity award in the 10th stage of the 2015 TdF and his victory in Dwars door het Hageland as his main achievements.

 

[Roku]

Vanbilsen retires. He cites injuries and operations as the main reasons.
He's happy with what he achieved citing his combativity award in the 10th stage of the 2015 TdF and his victory in Dwars door het Hageland as his main achievements.

Funny it came out after I enquired about him yesterday.
He also won La Marseillaise which was usually the opening race of European Calendar.

 

[Roku]

An interesting statistic about B&B. Out of almost 50 different riders that have been in the squad along its existence, as of now, only 5 managed to get a contract (CT -professional, not amateur/elite-2-, PCT or WT) when leaving the team: Coquard, Manzin, Pacher, Koretzky and Mozzato.

Will probably jump up to 10 or so when Bonnamour, Laurence, Schonberger and hopefully a couple of other riders get a spot, but still it is only 20%

 

[RedheadDane]

And I just decided to compile a list of riders whose career died with B&B:

This year:
Morice, Rolland, Hivert, and Lemoine; has he officially decided to end his career now, as opposed to after PR next year, or is PCS just making an educated guess?

Last year:
N. Bagioli, Backaert, Van Genechten, Reza, and De Backer (I guess you could say they lost some... backing...)

2020:
Courteille, Vichot, Boeckmans, Slagter, and J. Turgis

2019:
Lammertink, Bagot, Fournier, and Müller

2018:
Corbel, and T. Turgis.

Of course, in some cases - like the unfortunate Turgis brothers - there were obvious reasons. But, yeah... that's quite a lot of riders retiring after a stint with the team.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Wasn't that just Vaughthers typical bragging around? Which eventually was nonsense as Rolland didn't improve at all with his super modern science training scheme.

Moving to Garmin was the worst move of his career

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Xandres Vervloesem decided to quit cycling at the age of 22. Lost the love for cycling at DSM, and when upon going back to Lotto, he crashed in his first two pro races, that was the final straw. He never got over that mentally.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Xandres Vervloesem decided to quit cycling at the age of 22. Lost the love for cycling at DSM, and when upon going back to Lotto, he crashed in his first two pro races, that was the final straw. He never got over that mentally.

Another rider ruined by DSM...

 

[RedheadDane]

Steels forced to retire after his crash at the Six-Day in Gent.
Though, I can't figure out whether it's because of the injuries substained in the crash, or because being injured meant he could't really go prove himself to potential future teams.

 

[Squire]

Finishing 4th on Giro seems too much for him. However, it was a very weird edition with some questionable outcomes (Val Martello).

Apart from that, I think his resume is quite on line with what you could expect from Rolland (a fringe 2nd Tier climber with a penchant for breaks -rather than hunting low key Top-10- and very poor TT skills).

He managed to take iconic wins on TdF (Alpe D'Huez, Toussuire), a couple of low Top-10 on TdF, and even a Giro stage on his early declining years.

I feel this post is very much written with the perspective of hindsight. His 4th overall in the Giro felt quite natural at the time. A bit unfortunate for him that he didn't focus on the Tour that year (he did it with a Giro GC campaign in his legs) because that could have been his one realistic chance for a podium. He was pretty strong in the Tour the year after as well, and there was always a feeling of unfulfilled potential with Rolland until then. You got some Iban Mayo vibes when he failed to put a good GC together in the Tour year after year. It wasn't until after he moved to Garmin in 2016 at the age of 29 and didn't perform that everyone more or less gave up on believing in him as a GC rider.