Imogen Cotter, who won the National Road Race Championships in 2021, has called time on her racing career, citing the continued trauma she is suffering after a serious crash in Girona, Spain, just over two years ago.
The 30-year-old was due to race with Continental-level team Plantur-Pura for the 2022 season. But she missed most of that campaign after her pre-season crash, when hit head-on by a driver in a van while she was training.
Cotter returned to the peloton in late 2022 and rode some races, before competing with Fenix-Deceuninck Continental in 2023, when she completed 14 race days. She then went to British squad Hess Cycling Team for this year, but has recently suffered worrying issues while cycling.
She has explained she felt scared and anxious on the bike, saying that was due to the lingering impact of the 2022 crash, and found herself crying by the roadside while cycling of late.
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"As this season got underway, I realised that racing was not making me happy anymore - it was making me anxious and scared," she said on social media. "Many training rides have ended with me feeling the beginnings of a panic attack.
"I’ve found myself crying at the side of the road on multiple occasions after close passes. I started to wonder, why was I putting myself through this? I didn’t nearly die two years ago just to spend my days on this planet feeling unhappy. We only have one life. That’s when I knew it was time for a change.
"While I still love cycling and know that it will always be a big part of my life, it has felt near impossible to perform at a level that I can be proud of these last few months. After pushing through setbacks and trauma in the last two years, I am ready to approach cycling, and life, in a calmer way.
"I am proud of a lot of things that I achieved within cycling but the hard work that I have done mentally to make this decision is up there with the best. The fight back from what would have ended most people’s careers comes a close second.
"Getting my pre-crash power back was something many doubted, yet I did it and more. I can retire from racing knowing that I am unstoppable - but I choose to stop."
