Fem van Empel is the reigning cyclocross world champion and had two more years to run on her contract with World Tour team Visma-Lease a Bike. But she has decided to break that contract and walk away from her racing career.
The Dutch rider, a 23-year-old who won bronze in the U23 road race at the Europeans two years ago, won the elite worlds and Europeans in cyclocross for each of the last three years. But she no longer enjoys racing or training, she said.
She is the latest in a growing number of riders to step away from cycling, some at a very young age and others - including Tom Dumoulin and Marcel Kittel - who would have been expected to continue further with their careers.
Just a few weeks ago, former pro rider Matt White - previously the leading manager at Team Jayco AlUla and now with Movistar - pointed to the fact young riders who threw themselves into pro cycling early would likely not enjoy long careers.
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White noted some 16-year-olds were training as much as pros and were being paid €20,000 per year by development teams linked to World Tour squads. He believed the maximum a rider could be really committed was 10 years, adding riders who turned pro young may simply stop enjoying the lifestyle or may get burn out.
On the basis of the riders walking away early this season - many of whom are detailed in this story - it looks like White has a point; that the sport takes a big toll on those who are deep into it from a very early age.
Dumoulin, a Giro d'Italia winner and TT world champion, was 31 when he stopped and had also taken breaks from racing before his final decision to call it quits in 2022.
Looking back, he said even when he raced the 2020 Tour de France, and was 7th, he did not want to be a pro rider. “It was really, really awful. I hated cycling so much, and I hated being there so much,” he said.
Kittel won 89 races in his career, including 14 Tour de France stages, and stopped aged 30 in the spring of the 2019 season, saying very few people understood the fatigue involved in pro cycling and just how extreme the sport had become.
“In 2018 I counted 250 nights away from my own bed. I hadn’t had time with my family," he told Cycling Weekly, adding everything about his career in its final years was a repeat of previous seasons.
Though Dumoulin and Kittel were both past their best, they opted out at a time when they could have continued for several more seasons, thuse walking away from significant additional career earnings, potentially millions of Euros.
Irish rider Megan Armitage also decided to step away from cycling this year during what was the second year of her contract with EF Education-Oatly. She was aged 28 at the time and has remained commited to performance sport, taking up triathlon.
"I stepped away from pro cycling earlier than I had hoped or expected, and needed a little time to figure out what I wanted from sport again," she said recently of deciding to leave racing behind back in April.
"I didn’t leave with a big announcement or a grand plan, I just knew I wasn’t enjoying myself anymore, and the environment had brought out the worst in me. It's a hard reality to ignore when it's been your whole life for the last few years."
Monument winner Marta Cavalli was riding for World Tour team Picnic PostNL when, aged 27, she pulled the plug on her career this year. She placed 8th in the road race at the 2020 Olympics and won major races, including the Italian road championships, Amstel Gold and La Flèche Wallonne, to name just a few, but said she felt "exhausted".
"The last few years have been very difficult due to continuous ups and downs," Cavalli said, adding she had been pursuing better form for a long time. "My legs aren't spinning as hard as I would like them to and the motivation has faded away."
Australian rider Caleb Ewan (30), one of the most prolific sprinters of his generation, was just eight race days into a new contract with Ineos Grenadiers when he called it quits in April this year, just weeks after a 'comeback' stage win at Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT).
"Even when I crossed the line first, that feeling - the one you chase for years - faded quicker than it used to," he said of deciding to stop, even though Ineos Grenadiers offered him a lifeline with a contract and also, he added, had helped him believe in himself again.
German rider Louis Kitzki (21) was riding for Alpecin-Deceuninck Development, having won the Zwift Academy, when he quit this year citing safety concerns. He had been in races when two riders died; Samuele Privitera, at the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta in July, and André Drege, at Tour of Austria last year.
"I had completely lost the fun of racing, and the more chaotic a race became, the more brutally I broke down mentally," he said of the impact the fatal crashes had on him.
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"Unfortunately, without the mind, the body only functions poorly. What happened in the Aosta Valley was ultimately just confirmation of my decision, and I can see how well I've been doing since I quit."
Australian Ella Simpson (22) said in June she was stepping away from pro cycling as she needed "to prioritise my mental and physical health". However, she said that decision was to stop “for the foreseeable future”, thus leaving the door open on a return.
She rode for ProTeam St Michel-Préférence Home-Auber 93 this year. A former U23 Australian TT champion, Simpson had not raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes in April. She had started the season with silver in the elite women's road race at the Australian National Road Championships.
Simpson's team mate this year, former French junior road race champion Coline Raby (23), has also decided to stop. She crashed in Liège, which caused some knee problems that forced her to take five weeks off. There were also other setbacks in recent years, including injuries and a contract issue earlier in her career, all of which she said was "incredibly mentally draining".
"And then, surrounding all of that, there's the way cycling is evolving," she told DirectVelo. "It doesn't align with my values. When you see all the burnouts, the anorexia issues... it makes you wonder. There are a lot of articles, everyone reads them, and nothing is being done."
Ryan Gibbons raced for Lidl Trek for the the past two years and was a former African Continental champion and South Africa national champion. Though he has retired aged 31, a rider of his experience - who was in the World Tour for all nine seasons of his pro career - would have been expected to continue for longer.
However, he said he had constant issues with visas and always felt a long way from home having had to move from South Africa to Europe to race. He felt it was "time to go home", and it appears he will race on the domestic scene, though not as a pro, next year.
"Residency and visa issues have been a constant and endless struggle and stress which many will never understand or comprehend,” he said, adding being a pro cyclist had "not been simple or easy".
Hugo Toumire (24) rode for World Tour team Cofidis this year but has now decided to end his pro cycling career. It had been complicated by the need to undergo surgery for iliac artery endofibrosis earlier this year.
“From now on I want to find the joy in sport again, and try out new, slightly crazy challenges," he added, suggesting he was not happy being a pro cyclist.
Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ) was aged just 26 when he was forced to retire this year due to heart issues. He stepped away from the sport in March a year after the serious incident he was trying to return from; crashing at the Faun Ardèche Classic after losing consciousness.
"After extensive monitoring, my cardiologists have determined that the risks are simply too great. And just like that, my career as a pro cyclist has come to an abrupt and heartbreaking end," he said in March.
French rider Eddy Finé (27) of Cofidis was another rider forced to retire young this year due to medical issues; an abnormality in the iliac artery for which he had three surgeries in recent years.
Ide Schelling (27) rode for XDS-Astana this year when he decided to walk away from the sport, saying it had changed, gotten harder, and he had lost his love for it. Jonas Gregaard (27) rode for World Tour team Lotto this year but has decided to stop.
"My body and my mental health have told me it’s time - and I’ve learned how important it is to listen to that," Gregaard said.
UAE Team ADQ rider Lizzie Holden decided to walk away from racing at 2025 season end, saying "after a difficult few years, losing a lot of confidence on the bike" - and crashes - meant "it feels like the right time to move on to a new chapter".
Holden's World Tour team mate this year, Czech rider Tereza Neumanová, has decided to stop aged 23 years, saying she had "faced serious injuries and setbacks that tested me again and again" and now wanted a "new chapter".
"Cycling has given me unforgettable moments, but lately it has also asked a lot from me," she added. "Now I feel it is the right time to find a new balance and open the door to the next chapter of my life.
For Van Empel, she said the decision to stop racing was one "that I feel good about" after previously taking a break earlier this year as the "best step for my mental health and well-being".
"At the moment, both the motivation and the enjoyment I have had in cycling for years are missing," said Van Empel. "I wanted to be honest and fair about this with the team. For now, this is the best choice.
"It feels like the right time for a new chapter. I am very grateful for all the support I have received from the team, my family, and the fans, and I look forward to what the future brings.”
