Jürgen Roelandts puts end to prestigious career
15 October 2020

Retires from professional cycling

35-year-old Belgian, a member of the Movistar Team in 2019-20, completes 17-season trajectory with a dozen UCI victories, national road race title + podiums in Flanders / Sanremo.

Letter from Jürgen Roelandts:

Coming into the last part of the season, I am officially announcing my retirement from professional cycling at the end of this year. As I’m still suffering from an injured shoulder due to a crash in the BinckBankTour I’ll unfortunately not race anymore this season.

“It was a tough decision to make. Especially since cycling has always been such a big part of my life. I started cycling from the age of 12, that makes 24 seasons in total. However, due to the circumstances and various injuries, I’m not able to compete at the highest level, or the level I would like to be at. I know I still have what it takes to compete at WorldTour races, but training and racing with pain – day in, day out, makes it incredibly hard. Physically and mentally.

Yet, I’m proud of the things I’ve achieved during my career. I raced for the best and most successful teams, was able to ride beautiful races and to compete at the highest level. I took the national jersey as my first pro win, stepped onto the podium in some of my favourite classics, like Flanders and Milan – San Remo. My top 5 and top 10 finish at the World Championships and the Olympic Games respectively are results to be proud of.

“I have so many people to thank: family, friends, teammates, staff members (that feel like family and friends), fans, race organisers… Though, I want to thank my wife, Agnes, in particular for always being by my side, and my parents and sister who have supported me during my 24 years as a cycling. I’m looking forward to spending more time with them and with my son, Arton, which wasn’t always possible in the past.

“I’m also looking forward to what comes next and to start a new (professional) chapter. I’m extremely grateful for all the support and very excited to see what the future holds.”

Bedankt, Jürgen!