Alejandro Valverde and Enric Mas thank their retiring teammate Imanol Erviti for his loyalty

Imanol Erviti will retire from professional cycling, the experienced Spaniard announced on social media on Monday. The almost 40-year-old rider spent his entire career racing for Movistar and its predecessors, for which he rode the Tour thirteen times and the Vuelta fifteen times.

Erviti, who won a Vuelta stage in 2008 and 2010, also achieved top ten in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in 2016. He explains on social media why he is quitting. "I have gained an incredible amount of experience in 19 years within the Movistar structure, for which I would like to thank all the team leaders, doctors, mechanics and so on. We spent a lot of time away from home together, which made it feel like family."

"Without the help of sponsors, none of this would have been possible, so I would like to thank everyone for making this adventure possible," says Erviti. "I would also like to thank all my teammates. With them I have had the opportunity to suffer and enjoy countless hours on the bike. For me it is now the end of my career, but the end of a journey can also offer new possibilities. Now it's time to catch breath a bit."

Leaders such as Alejandro Valverde and Enric Mas thank the man from Navarre on social media. "One of my greatest friends and companions is saying goodbye to the peloton," writes Valverde, who could count on Erviti for a large part of his career. Mas also has nice words for Erviti. "I can only thank you. You were and are a great teammate, from whom I learned and enjoyed every day. Even before I came to Movistar, I admired you. And that admiration has only increased day by day since then."