After 10 years in the professional peloton, Rick Zabel will retire at Rund um Köln at the end of May

May 26 will be the final raceday of Rick Zabel's career. The 30-year-old German professional will retire at his home race Rund um Köln with more than 10 years worth of experience racing at the highest level for BMC, Katusha Alpecin and since 2020 in Israel - Premier Tech jersey.

"I have to tell you something," Zabel begins his Instagram post. "After 13 years as an active professional cyclist, this journey ends this year. On the 26th of May, at Rund Um Köln, I will ride my last race. It was an amazing time. Thank you all."

Unlike his famous father Erik Zabel who won 150 professional races as well as six Green jerseys at Tour de France and three Points classifications at Vuelta a Espana, Rick devoted most of his career to helping his teammates raise hands.

If we were to pick on some highlights of Rick's career, we can mention his two wins. In 2015, Zabel won stage 3 of Tour of Austria and in 2019, he added Tour de Yorkshire stage 2 to his palmares. In 2017, Zabel was close to winning World Tour classic, the Eschborn-Frankfurt, but Alexander Kristoff proved to be faster. Zabel's final remark was his brief feature in KOM jersey at the beginning of 2022 Giro d'Italia, where, for once, he also saw the world from a Grand Tour podium, like his father did so many times.