"I will always be a cyclist": Carlos Barbero retires after finding no team for 2023 season

31 years old Spanish cyclist Carlos Barbero who rode last season with Lotto-Soudal is forced to retire from professional cycling after spending the entire winter looking for a team, no contract materialized which made Barbero take the decision of retiring.

"In life everything has a finishl banner, I have arrived at that of the end of my cycling career. I am therefore crossing this line, but I already see a new signature sheet on the horizon. I just stop being a professional, because I will always be a cyclist", said Barbero in a post on his personal Instagram.

Barbero says goodbye to a sport that saw him racing for 11 years as a professional, with the last 6 of them being on the World Tour division. He raced for Orbea Continental, Euskadi, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Movistar Team, NTT Pro Cycling and Lotto-Soudal finally where he raced his final season in 2022.

He achieved a total of 18 professional victories, most notably 3 stages at Vuelta a Burgos and 2 times the general classification of Volta ao Alentejo being a solid rider in the Iberian cycling calendar.