40-year old veteran announces retirement from pro cycling at the end of the Giro d'Italia

Jakob Fuglsang has announced this morning, in a video shared by Israel - Premier Tech, that he will close off his professional career later this weekend on the final day of the Giro d'Italia after a long career at the top level.

The 40-year old has been racing the Corsa Rosa in support of teammate Derek Gee who is currently in the fight for the top positions, his 19th ever Grand Tour. Fuglsang started his professional back in 2006 and is one of the riders who's been racing at the top level for the longest time.

He signed with a World Tour team for the first time in 2009 with Saxo Bank and in 2010 made his Tour de France debut where he helped Andy Schleck to a second place overall - which would later turn into a victory after Alberto Contador's ban. The next year, he followed the Schleck brothers to Leopard Trek where he was once again crucial to the hunt for the yellow jersey, which ended with another second place for the Luxembourger.

From 2013 to 2021 the Dane would be racing for the Astana team where he became a leader in his own right, although he always proven to be a quality domestique, helping Vincenzo Nibali to victories at both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. Fuglsang himself finished 7th at the 2013 Tour and then 6th at the 2020 Giro, in his time with Astana.

However where he really stood out were the hilly one-day races, having finished on the podium of the Olympic Games back in 2016, but later on having stellar performances in the 2019 and 2020 seasons specifically where he added two monuments (2019 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and 2020 Il Lombardia) to his palmarès, alongside

Whilst not a Grand Tour specialist, he was a quality stage-racer, and most notably features two victories at the Criterium du Dauphiné including the mythical 2017 edition where Chris Froome and Alberto Contador had an all-out war in the mountains, and also in 2019.

In 2022 the veteran signed with Israel - Premier Tech, his final pro win was at the same year's Mercan'Tour Classic, and ever since he had slowly changed into a supporting role in the Israeli team.