The Spanish rider Joaquim Rodríguez will retire from cycling at the end of this season. A clearly emotional Purito announced his decision at a press conference held by his Katusha team on the Tour de France’s first rest day.

Rodríguez also posted a tweet saying: “Cycling thank you very much, you have been, are and will be the greatest thing that passed through my life!”

The man from Barcelona is racing his sixteenth professional season having started off with ONCE-Eroski back in 2001. He also raced with Saunier Duval–Prodir and Caisse d’Epargne–Illes Balears during his career and since 2010, he has been with Team Katusha.

Rodríguez has enjoyed numerous big wins during his career including stage wins at the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana. He also won various stage wins including Volta a Catalunya (2010, 2014), Tour of the Basque Country (2015), Vuelta a Burgos (2011) and Setmana Catalana (2004).

He came close to winning a Grand Tour on a number of occasions having finished on the podium at all three races – Tour de France (3rd in 2013), Giro d’Italia (2nd in 2012) and Vuelta a Espana (3rd in both 2010 and 2012, and 2nd in 2015).

In addition to his stage race performances, Rodríguez also won numerous one-day races including the Giro di Lombardia (2012, 2013) and La Flèche Wallonne (2012).

Purito retirement

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