Dario Cataldo confirms plans to retire at the end of this season after eighteen years in pro peloton

Dario Cataldo has announced that he will retire from cycling at the end of this year after 18 seasons in the professional peloton. During that time, Cataldo raced for world's biggest teams such as Liquigas, Quickstep, Sky, Astana, Movistar and lastly Lidl-Trek.

The Lidl-Trek rider confirmed the news during an appearance on RAI television’s Processo alla Tappa show after the finish of Wednesday's stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia, which was won by his teammate Jonathan Milan.

"This will be my last season as a professional after 18 years and well over 1,200 race days," Cataldo said. "I’ll keep going until Lombardia, and all going well, that will be my last race. I’d love to have been on the Giro this year, but the team rightly picked the most in-form riders for the race."

The 39-year-old raced the Giro d'Italia thirteen times in his career, with his highlight being a stage victory in 2019. He had previously also won a stage of the Vuelta a España in 2012, only missing a Tour de France stage in his collection.