Former Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali wants to retire from professional cycling at the end of the year, the 37-year-old Italian announced after the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, which led to his home town of Messina in Sicily.
"This will be my last Giro, I'll probably stop professional cycling at the end of the season," said Nibali, who rides for the Astana racing team, on Italian television with tears in his eyes.
The rider nicknamed the "Shark of Messina" had won all three grand tours in his career: the Tour de France in 2014, the Giro in 2013 and 2016 and the Vuelta in Spain in 2010. He was also successful in the cycling classics Milan-Sanremo (2018) and Tour of Lombardy (2015, 2017).
"I've achieved a lot in my career," he summarised. "I've invested a lot in cycling and maybe now is the moment when I can give back to my family and friends a little of what I've sacrificed for the two wheels."
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