Dutch great Annemiek van Vleuten will retire from professional cycling at the end of next season.
The 39-year-old is the current world number one and has been a dominant figure in women’s cycling for over a decade with 89 race victories.
Van Vleuten’s glittering career includes back-to-back wins at La Course, two Giro d’Italia Donne, four Monuments and seven Classics titles.
She also took gold in the time trial at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Van Vleuten has been a world champion in both that discipline and in the road race, but retiring next year means she will not defend her time trial title at the Paris Games in 2024.
“On an individual level, I didn’t see myself stopping this year,” she said. “I am still super motivated.
“While I see that there will have to be a time when I’ll quit, in my mentality it is better to stop when I am still at the highest level, fighting for victory in the most important races, than when I am not.
“Surely the day I leave it I will do it with a tear, because I love this sport, but I want that when I leave the professional athlete part of cycling, I do it at the top.”
Van Vleuten will compete in the 2022 Giro d’Italia Donne, which begins on Thursday, before competing in the inaugural Tour de France Femmes, which starts at the end of July.
