Sonny Colbrelli has recently announced his retirement from pro cycling. Although he will stay connected to the sport and his former Bahrain - Victorious team, 2023 will be a much different year where he will no longer be racing on the bike.
“I have regularly wiped away a tear in recent weeks and months," Colbrelli told Het Nieuwsblad. "Last month I went on a team camp with Bahrain. When the other boys put on their new outfits, ride in the new bikes, discuss the competition programs, I have to get into the support car in normal clothes, then tears come to your eyes.”
After a roller-coaster year of 2022, 2023 marks the start of a new phase in the Italian's life. Forced away from competition he reveals there have been very hard moments, as he further explains.
“I miss the fatigue in my legs, I miss sharing the room with my regular companions Damiano Caruso and Matej Mohoric, I miss the adrenaline of the race. Not everyone can tell their story after a cardiac arrest. I have to be satisfied and not selfish because I can't race anymore," the Italian added.
He's detailed his incident at the Volta a Catalunya in the interview, further detailing the ending event of his pro racing career: “It went black before my eyes. I only woke up in the hospital. They told me I had a cardiac arrest. At first I didn't believe them. I got lucky twice. At first because there was a young guy in the audience who volunteered at the ambulance and immediately understood the seriousness of the situation."
"He climbed over the crush barriers to give me a heart massage and to set my heart moving again after a few minutes with a defibrillator. The fact that the defibrillator was there was second to my luck," he concluded. The Italian is taking on a management and guiding role within the team's development ranks in the coming years.
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