Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux's Dimitri Claeys has announced his retirement at the end of 2022, however the Belgian veteran will stay in the team as he looks towards a new step in his career where he will become a sports director for the team.
The 35-year old is a veteran specialist in the cobbled classics and Belgian domestic calendar and will be serving an important role within the team last year. Over his career, which started in 2006, Claeys has served as a domestique and also a leader in the spring classics, where he's won five pro races and finished twice on the Top10 of the Tour des Flandres - the most recent being sixth at the 2020 edition.
The team is investing on it's own riders to stay in the team after retirement, as Claeys will become a DS for the Belgian teams from next year onwards - similar to teammate Kevin Van Melsen who will do the same for the development team, and to Pieter Vanspeybrouck who's also transitioned into a DS role this season.
This season Claeys was forced to miss the main spring block due to illness, however has been a part of the widely successful Belgian team which has been scoring wins on all terrains this year.
🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨 Dimitri Claeys (35) will retire as a professional cyclist at the end of 2022 & become sports director for our World Team! 2x champion of Belgium U23, Dimitri holds our best ever result on the @RondeVlaanderen! More ➡️ intermarche-wantygobert.eu/news/claeys/
