Loïc Chetout retires from cycling after failing to get new contract
Dec 03 2019 02:47 am CET
Photo by ASO/Karenn EDWARDS
After five seasons in Cofidis, French rider Lloïc Chetout has decided to put an end to his career as a professional cyclist.
The 27-year-old became a professional at the French squad and there he took top-five stage results in races like the Arctic Race of Norway, the Vuelta a España and the Tour de Yorkshire, as well as one stage victory at the Ronde de l'Isard. The rider didn't get a contract extension and didn't receive any offers from other teams.
"The moment so much dreaded by many professional athletes has arrived for me," Chetout said through social media. "Failing to find a contract, I decided today to put an end to my sports career. The bike completed me and gave me strong values.
"It allowed me to become the person that I am today, to have a heart, guts and particularly no complexes, to honour each of my commitments and to constantly exceed my limits. I have lived things that few people will have the opportunity to live and to know."
Apart from being recognised as a rider that sacrificed himself for his leaders, the rider will also be remembered by being the person that first assisted Stig Broeckx after he was hit by a race motorcycle at the 2016 Tour of Belgium, which eventually saved his life.
"I met some amazing people and others a lot less, but what's more fun and glorifying than learning about life through a passion?" he continued. "It is with great emotion that I had to take this decision thinking of all the people who supported me and still support me today, the fans, the friends, the beautiful meetings and especially Thierry Elissalde, my mentor and without whom the passion of the bike would have never been born in me; my parents who have given me immeasurable support and all those that I don't have the place to mention but to whom I think about.
"I close a chapter to open another hoping that it makes me vibrate as much as cycling."
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