Simon Yates, one of Britain’s most storied riders and the winner of last year’s Giro d’Italia, has stunned cycling by announcing his retirement at 33.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider announced on Wednesday that he is quitting with “deep pride and a sense of peace” after a 13-year career that gleaned two grand tours, 10 elite stages and 36 professional races.
Yates posted on social media: “I have made the decision to retire from professional cycling. This may come as a surprise to many, but it is not a decision I have made lightly. I have been thinking about it for a long time, and it now feels like the right moment to step away from the sport.”
The Lancastrian completed a memorable Giro triumph in June with a spectacular victory on the race’s final mountain stage over the Colle delle Finestre, that victory coming as a shock to add to his the 2018 Tour of Spain triumph.
Yates recognised that win in Rome as “a huge moment in my career, a defining moment maybe. It’s a sweet success. I’ve spent a lot of my life targeting this race. There’s been a lot of setbacks, and it has been hard to deal with. I’m in disbelief that I have finally managed to pull it off.”
In doing so, Yates became only the third British rider – after Chris Froome and Tao Geoghegan Hart – to win the race. William Fotheringham, the Guardian’s former cycling correspondent, said Yates’s “display of courage and cunning” would “go down in cycling’s annals as one of the most improbable heists the sport has witnessed”.
A mountain stage victory in the first week of the Tour de France in the Auvergne would prove to be his last as a professional cyclist and came after two stage wins in 2019. Riding alongside his twin brother Adam in their home town of Bury, Yates rose through the ranks of British Cycling, before confirming his talent by becoming points race world champion in 2013.
Simon Yates rides in the Tour de France, where last year he won a mountain stage to add to two other stage wins. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images
“Cycling has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. From racing on the track at the Manchester Velodrome, to competing and winning on the biggest stage and representing my country at the Olympic Games, it has shaped every chapter of my life,” said Yates.
“I am deeply proud of what I have managed to achieve and equally grateful for the lessons that came with it. While the victories will always stand out, the harder days and setbacks were just as important. They taught me resilience and patience, and made the successes mean even more.
“To everyone who has supported me along the way, from the staff to my teammates, your unwavering belief and loyalty made it possible for me to realise my own dreams. Whenever I doubted myself, you never did. Thank you.”
