PARIS – German Tony Martin will hang up the bike after the World Road Cycling Championships this week in Flanders, his Jumbo team announced on Sunday.
Martin, 36, has four individual time trial world titles to his name in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016.
Present at the highest level since 2008, the German rider won five stages of the Tour de France between 2011 and 2015.
“The World Time Trial (Sunday) and Mixed Relay (Wednesday) Championships will be the last races of my career,” said Martin, who has raced for Dutch team Jumbo since 2019.
“The bad crashes this year have also made me wonder if I’m ready to continue to face the risks that our sport brings. I decided that I didn’t want to, especially since the safety in the race did not improve despite the many discussions on the courses and the barriers, “said the German, who had been the first to fall in the maxi-fall at the start of the Tour de France caused by a reckless spectator, at the end of June, in Brittany.
