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Tony Martin at the Tour de France in June 2021
Photo:
BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
Cycling veteran Tony Martin will end his career after the Road World Championships in Flanders.
The 36-year-old and the Association of German Cyclists (BDR) informed about this on Sunday a few hours before the individual time trial.
“Of course, making such a far-reaching decision is not easy.
Cycling has shaped most of my life so far.
With ups and downs, great successes and defeats, falls and comebacks, ”said Martin, who won the World Championship gold medal in the individual time trial in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016.
His year 2021 was marked by falls, the last time he was hit at the Tour de France.
It was said that he deliberately chose the time immediately before the World Cup races with the finish line in Bruges.
"It shouldn't look like a decision of frustration if he doesn't get the result he hoped for today," wrote the BDR before the time trial on Sunday (from 3:15 pm, TV: Eurosport).
After the individual time trial, he will also start the time trial mixed on Wednesday and fight for World Championship medals for the last time.
Martin's goal: a worthy farewell on the World Cup stage.
“I trained hard for that.
And I would like to thank my Jumbo-Visma team for all the support over the past three years and the opportunity to end my career in the way I wish, «the Cottbuser explained.
Association president Rudolf Scharping praised Martin as an "outstanding role model, far beyond sport".
With his Jumbo-Visma team, the veteran actually still had a contract until the end of 2022.
In July, sprinter André Greipel, another driver of the past few years who had made his mark on Germany, announced his departure from the peloton.
ara / dpa
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