Reigning Giro d’Italia winner Simon Yates has surprised the cycling world with news of his immediate retirement, quickly bringing the curtains down on the Briton’s best season of his career.
“This may come as a surprise to many, but it is not a decision I have made lightly,” the 33-year-old wrote in a statement released on Wednesday by his team Visma Lease-a-Bike.
“I have been thinking about it for a long time, and it now feels like the right moment to step away from the sport.
He added: “I step away from professional cycling with deep pride and a sense of peace. This chapter has given me more than I ever imagined.”
Yates was under contract at Visma Lease-a-Bike, and had only been speaking about the upcoming season at the launch of the 2026 Giro d’Italia route in late November.
“I’d love to come back,” he had said. “Not many people are able to race a Grand Tour with a number one race number. There’s still a lot of discussions going on behind the scenes in the team about which riders will target the different races. We’l find out soon.”
Yates’ Giro victory was arguably the most dramatic moment of last season — achieved with a cathartic stage win on the Colle delle Finestre, the same ascent where he lost his overall lead in 2017.
His career began on the track for the British national team, before he raced alongside twin brother Adam for Australian squad Orica-GreenEDGE.
On the road, the Bury-born rider immediately showed his promise in the mountains, but a positive drugs test for the banned substance terbutaline led to a four-month doping ban in 2016. His team blamed the result on an “administrative error”, claiming that they had failed to apply for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE).
Yates won his first Grand Tour at the 2018 Vuelta a Espana, showcasing his explosiveness and an astute tactical ability.
He remained as Orica-GreenEDGE’s team leader until moving to Visma ahead of last season to become a key domestique for Jonas Vingegaard, ending his 13 year career with a record of 36 wins, including 11 Grand Tour stages
“Cycling has been part of my life for as long as I can remember,“ he wrote in an open letter announcing his retirement. “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 (in 2021), it has shaped every chapter of my life.
“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.”
Yates’ surprise retirement will impact Visma Lease-a-Bike, who now appear light of top-end climbing domestiques outside American pairing Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson. The Dutch squad may need to go into the transfer market, where business for the winter had largely concluded.
“It is a shame that he is stopping now, but he does so at an absolute high point,” said Grischa Niermann, the team’s head of racing. “Simon was an exceptional climber and general classification rider who always delivered when it mattered most. In the Giro, he peaked at a moment when almost no one expected him to be able to win anymore, which truly characterizes him as a rider.
2018 was arguably the defining year of Yates’ career. After riding aggressively in the opening half of the Giro d’Italia, winning three stages, Yates held a three minute lead heading into the final week. But his race collapsed on stage 18 as he was dropped on the Colle delle Finestre and lost more than 30 minutes as Chris Froome won after an 80km solo attack. Froome won the race, whilst Yates eventually finished 21st. He recovered however to win the Vuelta a España later that year, riding a more conservative race that saw him loan the leader’s jersey away and claiming only one stage win from a reduced uphill finish.
The subsequent years saw more leadership expectations thrust on Yates, which resulted in another Grand Tour podium at the Giro in 2022, and a career best fourth overall at the Tour de France behind his brother the following year after the brothers finished first and second on the opening stage in Bilbao.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
