Today I want to announce that the upcoming time trial and mixed relay World Championships will be the last races in my career.
Such a far-reaching decision is of course not easy to make. Cycling has been a large part of life for a long time – with highs and lows, big successes and losses, crashes and comebacks. What many young riders dream of, I have achieved. In the last few months I have been thinking more of what is to come after cycling. The bad crashes this year have also caused me to question whether I am ready to continue to face the risks that our sport involves. I have decided that I do not want to, especially since race safety has not improved despite the many discussions about courses and barriers. I hope the cycling world will listen to the plans presented by my and other teams.
Therefore I want to be fair to myself, my family and all my colleagues and end my career as a pro cyclist. I want to say farewell in a fitting manner at the Worlds time trial, which I won four times. I have trained hard for it.
I thank my team Jumbo-Visma for their support the last three years and the opportunity to end my career in this way, as I have wished.
I also want to express my deepest thanks to my family, my friends, my fans and all colleagues. Without you I could not have lived my dream and I will never forget that!