"I wanted to finish on a high, and I feel like I did" - Michael Woods promises his second retirement will be final
Cycling
Michael Woods retires after the 2026 Montréal World Championships for the second time. This time, he promises that there will be no backing out from his word after he had achieved his dream of bidding goodbye to professional racing in front of home crowds in Montréal.
Even though the location of this year's World Championships had been known long in advance, Woods originally had no plans to extend his active career beyond the 2025 season. Often haunted by injuries, the former middle-distance-runner would have been more than happy to have his farewell party at the 2025 Grand Prix de Montréal.... if only yet another injury had not prevented that from happening.
At first, Woods seemed content to let the 2025 Tour de France be the final race of his career, but as the time passed, the 39-year-old eventually heard the calling of home World Championships to make one final return to road racing.
After a 7th place at the National Championships, it was clear that Woods had not lost much of his ability over the year, and thus the Canadian coach did not hesitate to call up the veteran for Québec and Montréal GPs as well as the World Championships. Especially after Woods arrived 18th in Montréal, and Canada's leader Derek Gee-West crashed, forcing him to withdraw from the rainbow race.
Not the desired top-10, but still finishes on a high
The World Championships road race saw many attacks take place as soon as the peloton hit the Montréal circuit. Unfortunately for Woods, he had missed one of the important moments of the race, getting stuck behind thec enter of action. That was a tactical error as he found it impossible to move up after that. He finished the race in 35th place.
"Obviously, you dream or hope you can do a bit better. I was really hoping for the top 10 after [the GP] Montreal, but then getting sick kind of hit my confidence a bit," he said. "I wanted to finish on a high, and I feel like I did."
Read also
After the race, Woods was questioned whether he was really going to stop now, or there'd be a third retirement next year. He was adamant that he was actually, in fact, retiring. No triathlons or anything similar on the horizon.
He and his family will remain in Europe for the time being. "We’re going to stay in Andorra for now," he said. "But for sure, we’re going to return to Canada. Canada is my country. I’m proud to be from here."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- for what?frieders311-11-2026
- Blah blah blah!frieders311-11-2026
- Where Merckx just rode every single race he could and won all the time, Hinault won less often (percentage wise) because he was more judicious in what he raced. His palmares are nuts. He had amazing rivals, one to start his career and another to end it in the grand tours. His classics were solid. What sets him apart from Merckx and Pogačar are that he basically dabbled in the classics while the other two love(d) them. I used to compare Pogačar to Hinault for his grand tour record and occasional classics win, until I realized that the comparison was wrong. Pogačar loves the classics - ah, the memory of his reaction to finishing fourth in a 2 person sprint in Flanders in ‘22: utter domination in any one day race since then, even when he doesn’t win. Hinault lived for the grand tours and I don’t think anyone else will ever reach his record. 10 wins in 13 attempts? Good lord. An amazing rider. Wish there was more footage to watch.RidesHills11-11-2026
- I had no idea about that either.
santiagobenites10-11-2026 - great analysis thanks! appreciate you posting this. I didn't realize CX had a different standard for deviation. this is even more egregious it seems.mij10-11-2026
- As he isn't currently with Red Bull, I guess if he want to race for one more year he needs to find a team. He's 37 so this will be his last year I would guess, unless he wants to race for almost nothing like Froome did.awp10-11-2026
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
- Giro or not Giro, he won't win the Tour!MajorPayne10-11-2026
- Very true.awp10-11-2026
- Ciccone had a very strong end of season. Consistently attacking and livening up races. Hope he makes that last leap in progress and starts notching some significant wins. Great rider to watch.Occam10-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment