MADRID, Jan. 20 (SportsFinding) –
The Spanish cyclist Beñat Intxausti has announced his professional retirement, with 33 years and after 14 seasons in the elite, after not having “been able to return to the level of before”, and has explained that after giving last year “one last chance” has decided to look for “new goals and dreams”.
“I have not been able to return to the level of before, or to the level I wanted to reach. It has not been possible, however much I have tried. Now is the time to announce that this is where my career has ended. I am satisfied and proud with what he achieved, “he said at a press conference held at the Bilbao Insurance headquarters in the capital of Biscay, where he” took off “his career as a cyclist.
The Basque also explained that, since in 2016 he suffered a mononucleosis, everything went uphill. “After a long time since the illness, with recoveries and relapses, this last year I took it as a last chance,” he said.
“Now I look forward with optimism and surrounded by my surroundings. I have several things in mind, my future is open, and I face them with the same illusion as on the bike. I hope to reach my new goals and my dreams, just like that child who I asked for autographs in the Spring Klasika, “he said.
Among those who wanted to accompany Intxausti in his farewell were Pello Bilbao, Xabier Artetxe, Josean Fernández Matxin, Gorka Gerrikagoitia, Igor Antón, Rubén Pérez, Iker Camaño or Roberto Laiseka, among others.
Together with them he recalled his beginnings in the Amorebieta Cycling Society. “Who was going to tell me then that I would get to where I have come and to be able to share this day with you,” explained the so far Euskadi-Murias cyclist, a team that has recently disappeared.
Among the great achievements of his career are the pink maglia in the Giro d'Italia 2013. “If I'm not mistaken, I'm the only Biscayan so far who has dressed her. It's a pride, with all the great runners we've had in Bizkaia “he explained.
In his record, two stages stand out in the Giro (2013 and 2015), a Tour of Beijing (2013), the Tour of Asturias (2012), his second place in the Tour of the Basque Country 2010 and the fourth in 2011, a third in the Tour of Poland, a fourth in the Critérium Dauphiné and a fifth in the Tour de Romandía. In the big laps, he was eighth in the Giro 2013 and tenth in the Vuelta a España 2012.
In his career he has gone through teams such as Grupo Nicolás Mateos (2007), Saunier Duval / Scott-American Beef / Fuji-Servetto (2008-2009), Euskaltel-Euskadi (2010), Movistar Team (2011-2015), Team Sky ( 2016-2018) and Euskadi-Murias (2019).