Intermarché-Circus-Wanty boss Hilaire Van der Schueren retires from his role as a team leader: "You have to stop at some point, right?"

Hilaire Van der Schueren has resigned as team leader. In great secrecy, the experienced 75-year-old leader of Intermarché-Circus-Wanty waved off two weeks ago in Zwevezele Koers, a fairground race after all. The Belgian talks about his retirement in an interview with WielerFlits.

After 50 years in the industry, leading teams such Palmans-Collstrop, Unibet, Vacansoleil and in the last ten years at Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, Van der Schueren will now move away from the spotlight. "It's been good. I'm lucky that my health is still going well, but you have to stop at some point, right? I thought fifty was a nice number: a perfect moment."

"I didn't want the whole race to revolve around me. What made me very happy is that we won the last two races with myself in the car," says Van der Schueren who didn't let anyone know the exact date of his retirement in advance. "Gerben Thijssen was the best of the peloton in both the Zwevezele Koers and the Omloop van het Houtland. That made it a nice farewell."

Van der Schueren has reduced his competitions in the team leader's car in recent years, but he still leaves a gap as a leader. "Who will be my natural successor? Steven De Neef was already with the team when I joined in 2014. And he is still there now, so his track record is great. And then we have younger team leaders such as Pieter Vanspeybrouck and Dimitri Claeys. I think we are well equipped for the future. I'm not worried about that."