Former World champion Marta Bastianelli reveals retirement date - "Everything has a beginning and an end"

Former world champion Marta Bastianelli has set her retirement date. The Italian rider will hang up her bike after the Giro d'Italia Donne next season.

"Everything has a beginning and an end," Bastianelli told Bicisport. She continues, "Cycling has given me so much. Together with the team, we decided that the Giro d'Italia will be my last race. So I will end my career where I started - here in Italy."

With a career spanning more than 15 years, Bastianelli has earned numerous accolades. In 2007, she won the World Championship, her most celebrated achievement to date. After winning the European title in 2018, she won the Tour of Flanders the following year. Throughout her career, she has won 42 races, including seven this season.

The Giro d'Italia Donne will end on the 9th of July and will mark the retirement of one of the most marking figures of Italian cycling of the last decade.