The end of the cycling year is always marked by a number of retirements, but few seasons in recent memory have seen quite so many high-profile riders exit the stage at the same time.
The retirements of Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde heralded the end of an era, but the changing of the guard was not limited to Italy and Spain. In Belgium, Philippe Gilbert called time on his glittering career, while Richie Porte, Tom Dumoulin and Lisa Brennauer were also among the grandees of the men’s and women’s pelotons who have opted to retire this winter.
Cyclingnews casts a look back at the careers of a dozen of the most notable riders to hang up their wheels in 2022.
Tom Dumoulin formally hung up his wheels in August, but, in hindsight, the Dutchman had been edging towards retirement in instalments ever since he crashed out of the 2019 Giro d’Italia in the opening week in Frascati.
A move from Sunweb to Jumbo-Visma at the end of that season offered a chance of a reboot, but the pandemic-interrupted 2020 campaign did little to smooth Dumoulin’s increasingly uneasy relationship with his sport, even if seventh place on that year’s Tour, ridden in support of Primož Roglič, showed that his physical ability remained largely intact.
The ever more onerous mental demands of top-level sport were taking a toll, however, and Dumoulin opted to take a sabbatical at the beginning of 2021, citing burnout. He returned sooner than anyone anticipated and took silver in the time trial at the Tokyo Olympics, prompting him to return to targeting Grand Tours in 2022. The Giro, unsurprisingly, was the chosen venue, but a nagging back injury forced him to abandon at the end of the second week.
A few days after the Giro ended, Dumoulin announced he would retire after the Wollongong World Championships, but he instead opted to call time on his career in August. “For a while now, there has been a disbalance between my 100% dedication, everything I do and sacrifice for the sport, and what I subsequently get out of it in return,” Dumoulin wrote earlier this year.
Dumoulin leaves an imposing palmarès behind him, with the stand-out victory coming at the 2017 Giro d’Italia when he became the first Dutchman to win a Grand Tour since 1980. The foundations of that win were laid in the Montefalco time trial, but the key moment came when Dumoulin responded with such poise to his
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